When I sat down to make The Climate Pickle, I wrestled back and forth for days and days about a name that made sense for my blog. I nearly drove myself to insanity. I scattered different words across a page in my notebook that described climate change. Chaos, disorder, calamity, crisis, craziness. But the one that seemed to nip it in the bud was clusterfuck. 

Clusterfuck. I love saying it. Not to mention it describes the changing climate quite well: “A disastrously mishandled situation.” I’m certainly not saying all hope is lost, but humans have collectively placed ourselves in a situation that seems rightly described as fucked. We need to de-clusterfuck it or at least know how clusterfucked it is.

My peers, my friends, my classmates, any one around my age (22) are the audience for The Pickle. I asked all my friends if they liked the name climate clusterfuck, and they laughed, nodding their head’s, yep. Though, I had to consider that the eyes and ears of Millennials are not the only ones who will see this blog. The word clusterfuck punches a little too harshly, and I had to think of something that softened the blow of the climate situation.

My mind wandered to a year ago when my friend creaked with each step up the stairs that opened to my room. He plopped on my white carpet and folded over onto a colorful stack of pillows. I raised my eyebrows, tilting my head inquisitively. He heaved a deep sigh and said, “Liv, I’m in a serious pickle.” Whenever I hear that phrase, a little giggle escapes. I was definitely not laughing at his personal situation, which was rather serious, involving a cop, a friend, and various other things that I will keep to myself. But the phrase has a way of breaking tension surrounding something, like heaving a rock onto a frozen pond to see the water move underneath.

A pickle is defined as “a difficult situation.” Climate change has no easy answer, and it is truly the messiest situation humans have gotten ourselves into. The best way I find to approach a challenging, seemingly hopeless and overwhelming situation is to first breathe; then it’s like tossing a rock onto the frozen surface of a lake to get a better look under the surface and what’s really going on.

So here’s to being aware of our climate pickle-clusterfucked situation.

These words are not from your professors, parents, grandparents, or other adult figures. This is me, Olivia, talking to you, Generation Y.