That is Dana Fisher, pictured above. The picture comes from the Summer 2025 edition of Earth Island Journal, where it is associated with a conversation between Fisher and Maureen Nandini Mitra, who edits that magazine. The conversation is titled, "Hope Embedded In Despair." Fisher is identified as an "apocalyptic optimist." A further description of this seemingly self-contradictory term can be found in an article by Fisher in the January 2024 edition of Time Magazine. That article is titled, "Apocalyptic Optimism Could Be the Antidote for Climate Fatalism."
I think I may be an "apocalyptic optimist," too.
I have friends, and one in particular comes to mind, who frequently use the word "doomed" to describe our current situation, and who employ sentences describing some genuine reality (and genuinely apocalyptic reality) by using the "is" verb in either the present tense, or in the future tense, or both. By way of example, I am thinking of sentences like, "fascism has triumphed" [past], "democracy is doomed" [present], and "climate collapse is inevitable" [future].
If you have not noticed how close we are to the apocalypse, politically and environmentally - to the disappearance of democratic self-government in the United States, and to a major collapse of the systems that make Earth habitable - you are not paying attention. Or, more likely, you are deliberately averting your eyes (and shutting off your brain) because the current realities in which we live are so overwhelmingly threatening.
The mistake is to confuse a current description of what exists - a description that is absolutely accurate - with a statement about reality. "Reality" includes a dimension that cannot be reached by "observation," alone.
The unmeasured dimension I am talking about goes by different names. "Possibility" is one of them. I am pointing to the possibility we always have, individually and collectively, to change what we are doing right now, and to do something new, and different - something unexpected - and by doing that new thing to transform the world. Here is an excerpt from the introduction to that Earth Island Journal discussion:
Dana Fisher doesn’t sugarcoat the facts: When it comes to our climate and American democracy, we are in a bad place. The Trump Blitzkrieg is demolishing key policies that shield us from toxic pollution, that protect our lands, waters, and wildlife, and that attempt to address the climate crisis. In addition, the mass layoffs of federal scientists and academics, the daily deluge of attacks on everything from immigrant rights, trans rights, free speech, and public health, have become significant sources of stress and uncertainty for many Americans. Things, she predicts, are only going to get much worse.But Fisher, who calls herself an “apocalyptic optimist,” says this moment of polycrisis also offers an opportunity for us to build collective power and trigger a wider movement for change. As someone who has been has been studying climate and social movements for more than two decades Fisher knows a thing or two about how repressive regimes can actually help strengthen the movements opposing them. Her recent book, Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action, offers insights on how social movements can take power back from deeply entrenched interests. Since January, Fisher, who is the director of the Center for Environment, Community, and Equity at the School of International Service at American University, has been tracking the growing resistance to Trump 2.0 in real time. She recently spoke with me about the growing belief among some activists that political violence may be necessary to protect democracy, the need for climate groups to connect with those who are feeling anxious about the climate and Trump’s policies, and how building community resilience is crucial during these times (emphasis added).
Another magazine, Sojourners, had an article in its July 2025 edition that really makes the same point. In the hard copy version, that article is titled, "The Power of Social Connections." If you're having any trouble with the idea that we ought to be approaching the future, through the present, in the spirit on "apocalyptic optimism," see if Sojourners will help you understand the need to move away from any analysis that find us telling ourselves that "we're doomed."
Doom may come. Let's not "sugarcoat the facts." But it's not here yet, and it's not "inevitable."
As I said earlier, I think I can properly be described as an "apocalyptic optimist," and I'd like to invite you to be an "apocalyptic optimist," too.
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