Currently— April 22nd, 2022

Currently's San Fransisco weather reporter— Priya Shukla— was interviewed by Al Roker for the SiriusXM Today Channel, to talk about climate change and oceans for Earth Day.

Priya is a PhD candidate in Ecology at UC Davis. Her research explores the effects of climate change on shellfish aquaculture in California.

What you need to know, currently.

Today we published a piece by Anna Abraham, Currently’s Mumbai-based editorial fellow, on what non-monogamy can teach us about building community in the climate space.

“The climate fight requires radical new solutions,” writes Abraham, “This includes the way we connect and relate with each other.”

Abraham spoke with Dee, a queer polyamorous student from Bangalore, India, about how polyamory could serve as a potential model for radical new ways of connecting.  

“The way we think about communities is family and kinship. Polyamory provides a more expansive and authentic space to create your own communities,” they said. “If four people share a space, they share responsibilities, they share emotional labor. That template can be difficult to carry out because within our normative patriarchal ideas of father, mother, brother, sister. I have always pondered on how freeing it would be to have a different version of community, away from the traditional family unit.”

Abraham makes a case that non-monogamy and making space for alternative relationship models, builds resiliency.

“This isn’t to say that everyone should consider non-monogamy. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But the need for community exists everywhere, not just in the climate space. We are undeniably at the brink of multiple crises. In a world where countries wage war, there is always room for more love. It is the one thing that excites all of us while also uniting us. What we can all learn from non-monogamy is new ways of relating with each other, of sharing pains and laughs in an uphill battle.”

Read the full article: What Non-Monogamy Can Teach Us About Climate Advocacy.