A Busload of Faith to Get By

and a woodpecker or two

I’m starting with the bird who lifted my low spirits this week, in case you need them. Look at that natty herringbone cape and snazzy red hairdo. What’s not to like? I’ve never seen the red belly that gives these their name.

Why did my spirits need lifting? If you read news, you know.

Journalism can be a force for good, but “news” has never been neutral or objective; it’s always been a product, something to sell. And you are not the buyer, but the consumer, and also the product. The buyer is the billionaire who owns the “news source” and he’s buying you…and specifically, buying how you feel after reading, hearing, or viewing it.

I got that from Fix the News, which I highly recommend. Without it, I wouldn’t have known that Renewables generated 26% of the United States’ electricity in 2025 (a new record). It was also reported by The Weekly Anthropocene, another good source which focuses mostly on news affecting the climate. I’ve mentioned Earth Hope before, another good source.

As an atheist, faith can be hard to come by. Conservation Works mentions this:

[O]ne of the things that faith requires of you is an ability to believe that this current state that you are in is not the end. There is a possibility that something can be greater. And even though you cannot see it, you believe that it can happen.

I may not have faith in gods or higher powers, but I can have faith that nature doesn’t give up hope for the future. It believes in a future that some of us maybe cannot see; I’ve shared a photo of a Prickly Pear cactus growing through asphalt and surviving a snowy New Jersey winter many times. Those cacti have thrived every year I’ve seen them, bearing fruit and feeding pollinators. They don’t read the news.

Unfortunately, I do. And I think I’m going to stop most of it. No more Reddit, no more NPR. I like supporting my local paper, but even they adhere to the “if it bleeds it leads” method, and I’m not sure I need to know about every shooting or traffic accident.

Between the news and the gloomy weather, I’d been quite down lately. I’ve been looking at more gloomy and winter-bound cities as an escape from the political madness in my country, but I’m not sure how well I’d fare with even less sun. I managed years in Minneapolis, so I know I can do it. And I think in the longterm it will be better for my mental health in Montreal or Edinburgh, near water and mountains, where I could walk or take a metro to a cafe in the morning and a pub at night.

One thing that made me hopeful recently was hearing my old friend the Belted Kingfisher quietly chittering at Timber Creek. I didn’t seem them, but I heard them. And I have faith that I’ll see them again, and get better photos. These cute little honkered and mohawked divers make me smile every time.

Belted by a Waxwing

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are much more common here, but I never take them for granted. They announce themselves with their scolding as you enter their territory. I’m glad I saw a couple yesterday. I also saw Wood Ducks, but didn’t have my camera. They are very shy around here, as they are hunted.

The sun is teasing its way from behind the clouds, so I’m going to go make the most of it. As Lou Reed says, it takes a busload of faith to get by…