Hale St.Isle

INTRODUCING

HALE ST. ISLE

Hi Hale!

Shauna with the Tweep Tattler here!

No pressure/hurry, but here's your first question:

Before you started your recent research, was the climate crisis/climate anxiety on your radar, at all?

I started researching the climate in a very strange way: I was in the middle of quitting smoking cigarettes, and one of the things I did was to just allow myself to do whatever I felt like. That translated into googling various things that came to mind, and that became a doorway to environmentalism. I remembered a pamphlet I got in the mail in the early 90's, by a radical environmental group. I looked them up. I read about them. Then I got a few books on them. I studied this group for a while, and it translated into me deciding to really look into this whole climate change thing. And just then, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report saying we have until 2030 to cut back CO2 emissions and until 2050 to reach net zero emissions. This report captured the public eye, including mine. It all started then. I became obsessed with the subject, and eventually wrote The Climate Anxiety Manifesto as a first step in this process - there'll be more, and it's my subject now, the niche in which I'm going to do my work and spend my energy.

It's a scary and fascinating topic.

How do you feel about all the young people in the media trying to get people to listen about the dire consequences of human actions?

Do you think the younger generation "gets" it?

I can't imagine how some of them must feel. It's a hard enough growing up, looking for a career, trying to get established for the sake of some sort of future. I can't imagine how the young people must feel about the news that there might be no future at all, except some terrible storms and danger. I think the youth have the best voice out of all the possible voices, and I find it cynical and misanthropic for older people to ignore them. If anyone has something to say about the future of life on earth, it's the young people of today. Because they'll be here, and their futures are being affected, even if only by depression due to the fear, fear of doom, and all of that. It's the equivalent of the 1980's fears about the end of the world due to nuclear war. When the youth feel their future is in danger, it must be terribly hard for them to feel any motivation, and I expect they're burdened by a great deal of anxiety.

You mentioned that your mother is your first reader. How has reading your work affected her perception of this issue? Was she informed before you began your research?

She reads all my writing and edits and looks for spelling mistakes. Regarding climate change, she is picking some stuff up from me. She might even go vegan sometime. She has always done things like recycle, and I'm not adding much to what she already does. Probably the biggest change I could inspire would be for her to go vegan. Veganism is important in all this - as far as climate change goes - because animal agriculture produces so much methane. It's just as polluting to raise so many cattle, some billion cows exist at any given time, just to satisfy our needs for meat and dairy. If we made an effort to go vegan, it would serve to alleviate a lot of the burden the earth is facing from greenhouse gasses like methane. Go vegan! You know that somewhere deep down you've always wanted to! Just a little?

I'll never say never, but it might take a bit of thinking on my part.

OK, next question:

You say you have no other talents. I don't believe it. What is something (other than writing) you like to do?

Well, my ideal life is just reading, writing, and social media. I add in a few hours to try to memorize what I've been reading. As far as other hobbies, I like vegan cooking, and I'm learning it. I like meditation and studying Buddhism and self-help. I like to listen to hypnosis on YouTube, like self-confidence affirmations - I need it! But my ideal life is just to read and write. If I only did one thing, it would be writing. I also love to chat on Twitter. Social media is where I get most of my socializing done, as I'm a bit of a shut in. I don't get out much, nor do I want to. But my ideal day involves lots of writing and not much need for anything else.

It sounds like you are finding your way into a space, in which you’re comfortable — that’s fantastic

I think that writing about the climate situation is going to keep me motivated, fulfilled, and in a good headspace for decades. It's a very important subject, and I'm trying to help out as best I can. Books can inspire, and keep people thinking about it. I wish I could do more. But I'm a shut in, like I said, so I'm more of an armchair activist - which is perfectly okay!!!

Messages

Messages

Scott says: "CHEEZITS! 

 Season on the Twit Box!"

Another hashtag would be fun! I’ll try to keep up lol

2m

Matilda Faye Left

@FateoftheFae

Sending love 

3m

Dawn Hosmer

@DawnHosmer7

Oh no! I will keep you in my prayers. please keep me posted.

1h

VSSSerialNovel

@365_SerialNovel

don't come on here often lol

15h

HALE ST. ISLE

@ST_ISLE

Sent a GIF

17h

SKINZophrenia

@NJRAMAL_

Checking in! Christmas is coming. Making sure you've got the support you need. Maybe consider checking in with AA again? Those dudes would be thrilled to see your mug still sober, I bet!

18h

Eric

@Eric_Hansen71

You liked her rules?

Dec 19

Smarty Marty

@SmartyMarty1126

Dec 14

Crow Toes

@_CausticTV

Haha

Dec 11

Danail Hristov

@Hristov_D

Hello ShaunaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa

, Thank you for your interest in my twitter account! Please note, this is not a personal account, but my professional author’s one. So, let’s keep that level of communication. Look forward to having a tweet interaction with you. Regards, Danail

Dec 11

Karyn Zen

@UnreadDatum

Everyone is good at something...

Dec 9

Shawn Burgess

@ShawnBinjax

Dec 2

Roli

@Roli89614276

How are you doing today

Nov 29

Juan Pablo Segovia

@JuanPab79717650

Thanks for following, really appreciate it. Juan Pablo Segovia

Nov 22

Hiire Ivan

@hiireivan1

Hello dear

Nov 20

ConverStoryAnthology

@StoryConver

Oh I'm fine. A little crazed but it'll be over next week. Thank you for asking, Shauna. 

Nov 19

Julia Benally

@SparrowCove

Nov 19

Walker Smith

@WalkerS32593821

I will be 56 by November 20

Nov 17

Kenneth Anders

@Kenneth_Anders3

Hello there

Nov 8

Cassondra Windwalker

@WindwalkerWrite

I’m so sorry all of this is happening to her (and you).

Nov 4

HALE ST. ISLE

@ST_ISLE

Hi Hale!

Shauna with the Tweep Tattler here!

No pressure/hurry, but here's your first question:

Before you started your recent research, was the climate crisis/climate anxiety on your radar, at all?

Yesterday, 5:58 PM

I started researching the climate in a very strange way: I was in the middle of quitting smoking cigarettes, and one of the things I did was to just allow myself to do whatever I felt like. That translated into googling various things that came to mind, and that became a doorway to environmentalism. I remembered a pamphlet I got in the mail in the early 90's, by a radical environmental group. I looked them up. I read about them. Then I got a few books on them. I studied this group for a while, and it translated into me deciding to really look into this whole climate change thing. And just then, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report saying we have until 2030 to cut back CO2 emissions and until 2050 to reach net zero emissions. This report captured the public eye, including mine. It all started then. I became obsessed with the subject, and eventually wrote The Climate Anxiety Manifesto as a first step in this process - there'll be more, and it's my subject now, the niche in which I'm going to do my work and spend my energy.

Yesterday, 6:04 PM

It's a scary and fascinating topic.

How do you feel about all the young people in the media trying to get people to listen about the dire consequences of human actions?

Do you think the younger generation "gets" it?

Yesterday, 6:07 PM

I can't imagine how some of them must feel. It's a hard enough growing up, looking for a career, trying to get established for the sake of some sort of future. I can't imagine how the young people must feel about the news that there might be no future at all, except some terrible storms and danger. I think the youth have the best voice out of all the possible voices, and I find it cynical and misanthropic for older people to ignore them. If anyone has something to say about the future of life on earth, it's the young people of today. Because they'll be here, and their futures are being affected, even if only by depression due to the fear, fear of doom, and all of that. It's the equivalent of the 1980's fears about the end of the world due to nuclear war. When the youth feel their future is in danger, it must be terribly hard for them to feel any motivation, and I expect they're burdened by a great deal of anxiety.

Yesterday, 6:12 PM

You mentioned that your mother is your first reader. How has reading your work affected her perception of this issue? Was she informed before you began your research?

Yesterday, 6:15 PM

She reads all my writing and edits and looks for spelling mistakes. Regarding climate change, she is picking some stuff up from me. She might even go vegan sometime. She has always done things like recycle, and I'm not adding much to what she already does. Probably the biggest change I could inspire would be for her to go vegan. Veganism is important in all this - as far as climate change goes - because animal agriculture produces so much methane. It's just as polluting to raise so many cattle, some billion cows exist at any given time, just to satisfy our needs for meat and dairy. If we made an effort to go vegan, it would serve to alleviate a lot of the burden the earth is facing from greenhouse gasses like methane. Go vegan! You know that somewhere deep down you've always wanted to! Just a little?

Yesterday, 6:22 PM

A lot can be done from home, these days. You’re doing important work.

Thanks for letting me interview you!

Wonderful! Thank you!

STANDARD TWEEP TATTLER QUESTIONS:

1) Where do you live?

Colorado, USA

2) What is the first thing you remember writing?

A poem as a teen about a girl in the dark at night.

3) Why do you write?

I have to. I’m always writing down notes and thoughts. If I didn’t write them down, I’d feel like I was limiting my personal development, because all of that information would be lost. I have too many ideas to keep track of in my memory alone. 

4) Have you published any of your work?

I self-publish a lot. I currently have one 50-page book out, The Climate Anxiety Manifesto, and three 1-4 page essays out, which are going into a full book of shorts sometime next year. Right now, all I’m writing are essays on the environmental crisis. I follow the news on it and the key figures in the climate movement, and I participate in my own small way by writing essays on the subject. It concerns me very much, and it can only be described as doom and gloom that I feel when I consider society going under and most of the life on earth eradicated. I feel compelled to help in my own small way.

5) What are you currently writing?

I’m currently promoting a 50-page essay on climate anxiety, The Climate Anxiety Manifesto, and writing short 1-4 page essays on similar topics. It’s my chosen subject: climate change essays. Climate anxiety is difficult, because it presents us with the feeling that life doesn’t matter, everything is futile, because we’re headed for the end. It is quite similar in effect to the way the prospect of nuclear warfare made everyone feel in the 1980’s. Depressed. Scared. We feel gloomy. And we can’t do much about it but protest and become activists and fight against the abuse of the earth and species. The only thing you can do when you feel like life is made pointless by the destruction so prevalent everywhere is to fight against the causes of that destruction.

6) Are you currently querying?

No, I just stick to self-publishing.

7) Finish this sentence (three lines or less):

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT…

and the late night coffee was keeping me fueled for another writing session.

8) Which activities do you like to participate in, in the Twitter writing community (VSS365, etc.)?

I love Twitter. I find it very social and positive. I’m sure there are sides to it that are darker, but I keep a good group of people to talk to on there, and I’ve found the people to be polite and good-natured.

9) Do you have any formal training/education for writing?

None at all.

10) Do the people in your life know that you write?

Oh, yes. My mother is the first to read anything major I’m working on.

11) Tell me about the people in your life. Family? Pets?

Mother, brother, step-father. They’re all great people. 

12) Where do you wish your writing to take you?

I would like to be a sort of weirdo who writes brilliantly and is somewhat of a recluse. I don’t want to have to do all those adulting things, like go out, do interviews on webcams, or that sort of thing. I’d love to be a person who lives pretty much hidden and only ventures out into the big wide world through writing books and the text in interviews like this one. I want to exist in words alone.

13) What did you expect when you joined the Twitter writing community? Did it turn out as expected?

Twitter has been great. Every time I’ve used it, I’ve had some wonderful conversations and friendships. It’s a wonderful community.

14) Where do you write?

I live in a small room with a huge desk right in the middle of the room. There are words scrawled in permanent ink across it. There are bookshelves sitting at the head of the desk, stuffed with books. It’s where I spend most of my time. I kick my feet up and sit with a laptop in my lap, and usually I’m writing, either a short or on Twitter.

15) How much time do you dedicate to writing, weekly?

Writing and self-promotion and reading take up all my time. 

16) Do you have other talents?

Not really, no.

17) CHOOSE ONE:

I do not mind when other writers ask for advice.

I’d rather keep to myself!

A. I do not mind when other writers ask for advice. I love to help.

ABOUT HALE

I started reading about climate change last year, when I was doing research on random topics using google search and while recovering from a nicotine addiction I was in the process of quitting. I came across a lot of writing on climate change and eco-activism. The eco-activism touched a nerve in me, and I started reading everything about it that I could get my hands on. At the end of a few months of doing just that, I felt fairly motivated to do something of my own in the same vein, so I started writing about it. Now I have a short 50-page book out, The Climate Anxiety Manifesto. Climate anxiety is the sense of despair some of us get when we consider that the future of civilization might just be wiped out, that we are living in delicate times, that we really have to come together as a world right now, immediately, before life on earth is irreparably harmed. That's what climate anxiety is all about.

AMAZON: amazon.com/author/st_isle

TWITTER:  @ST_ISLE