“Return to Nature”

The Death Issue caught my attention and continues to open my eyes to a broader view of how I want my body to be after I die. At age 73, I am active and in good health. Cremation had been my burial choice, until I read this article and learned that 600 million pounds of carbon dioxide and other toxic pollutants are released annually from the fossil fuels used during the cremating process [according to Katrina Spade, founder and CEO of Recompose]. YES! I want my body to be naturally composted by the microbes already available in the wood chips, straw and soil that will be used to return my flesh and bones to our Mother Earth.

— Joy Justis, Olympia, Washington

I subscribe to YES! here on Facebook. This topic has interested me for 30 years. I just had to go out and buy an actual paper copy at my local indie bookstore. Thank you, YES! Thank you, Grass Roots Books & Music!

— Cheryl Martin (via Facebook), Corvallis, Oregon

“The Story of Death Is the Story of Women”

I’m excited about this issue. But I hope that in the future we can subvert the binarist narrative and acknowledge that many people who are and have been involved in death work throughout history have been what these days we call nonbinary. Focusing on individual women is powerful and important; however, when people call this “women’s work” or claim that it’s “the story of women,” that excludes the nonbinary folks who have been and continue to be a vital part of this work.

— Eli Effinger-Weintraub (via Facebook), Minneapolis, Minnesota

What’s your passion?

Social transformation. And I believe it starts with each one of us. We all have the capacity for joy and fulfillment, and the more we realize our own potential, the more we change the world.

What does that look like in your work?

I bring people together in workshops, healing circles and retreats where we use the arts and storytelling to help us develop our capacities for compassion, love, gratitude, healing, inclusivity, and social justice. We grow our ability to take these values into the world so we can build a world where those qualities prevail.

What’s your favorite expression?

“If you want to create a new culture, throw a better party!”

Why YES!?

Because the world would be a darker place with less inspiration and less hope for the future without it.

Why do you belong to the Founders’ Circle?

We need social transformation. Our survival depends on it. But we can’t do this work just as individuals. We need scale. We need millions of people to move us in that direction. YES! builds that movement. But YES! can only do that with our financial support. At the Founders’ Circle level, I know I’m helping YES! strengthen its journalism and reach more people. I’m helping get those solutions and ideas out into the culture so they can have the impact we need.

Dear Reader,

Instead of writing this letter, I wish that you and I could sit together, heart to heart, and talk. Because over the last few months, I’ve met with many people who are finding it harder and harder to hang on to hope.

These are intensely challenging times. Between the climate crisis and the rise of authoritarianism, we are facing threats to our civilization beyond anything we’ve known before. These threats are so relentless that many people feel hopeless and numbed by the onslaught of demoralizing news.

It can feel crushing. But please, listen.

We must hope. Without hope, we will fail. With hope, we have a chance. Hope is what keeps people all across the world — and in our own community — rolling up their sleeves, seeking common solutions, building bridges, showing that a different, better way of being is possible.

And where does hope come from? Hope starts with a story. Stories like the ones in this magazine and those we publish daily at yesmagazine.org show that positive change is not only possible, but it is happening all around us, even in the midst of other devastating events.

Of course, you must also gnash your teeth, sob, and grieve. You must take tender care of yourself and those you love in these scary times. But never stop visualizing a better way of being, and never stop seeking and sharing the roadmaps to show the way there. That’s why YES! Media exists, and why you hold this magazine in your hand right now.

And here’s some good news: You are not alone! We are forging new partnerships to find and distribute more stories of people creating the world we want to live in. In just the last couple of months, YES! articles have been converted to radio stories that have aired on more than 450 radio stations across the country, reaching 8 million listeners. And there’s so much more possible!

But we can only do this with the support of readers like you. Subscriptions cover just a fraction of the full cost of producing and distributing the stories you find in YES! If you’re already a donor, thank you! If not, please consider adding YES! to the organizations you support to advance your vision of a better world. Together, we can make an enormous difference.

With love and gratitude,

P.S. If you have the means, please join our Founders’ Circle, our special family of supporters who give $500 a year or more so YES! can give hope to millions of people, and have the greatest impact possible. A generous donor has offered to match every new Founders’ Circle gift of $500 or more, up to $30,000. That’s how important this is.

Liz Carlisle is an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where her work focuses on just and sustainable food systems. She is the author of two books about transitions to regenerative organic farming practices: Lentil Underground (2015) and Grain by Grain (2019). A former country singer and Senate staffer, she tweets @lizwcarlisle and has a serious weakness for kombucha.

Alexandra van Alebeek holds a culinary degree from the Ballymaloe Cookery School. She spent time learning the ins and outs of sourdough while working in the sourdough bakery at Cafe Modern in Amsterdam. She has a master’s from Stanford University in food system sustainability.

john a. powell is the director of the Haas Institute for a Fair & Inclusive Society, the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity & Inclusion, and professor of Law, African-American, & Ethnic Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. Twitter: @profjohnapowell

Mashadi Kekana is the digital and social media campaigner for the Healthy Living Alliance in South Africa. Born in post-apartheid South Africa, her interests include telling stories about the system’s lasting legacy in rural areas. Twitter: @mashadi_kekana

Simon Allison is Africa Editor for the Mail & Guardian and research consultant for the Institute for Security Studies, a pan-African think tank. As South African journalists, the two grapple with the enormous inequalities of their society and work to understand, and convey to readers, the complexity that underpins that inequality. Twitter: @simonallison