J.R. Johnson

Today I was going to send you over to an asteroid launcher because hey, tweaking the universe’s nose is fun, right? 

Asteroid Launcher

But no, it turns out that once you start lobbing asteroids at the planet, as in Earth, our unique and very populated home, it all gets a bit terrifying.*

Also, despite our successes earlier this year, humanity hasn’t quite figured out the whole “killer asteroid” thing.

In NASA Simulation, Humankind Dismally Failed to Save Earth From Killer Asteroid

Hmm. Maybe Captain Kirk has a bit of planetary encouragement for us?

Last year, at the age of 90, I had a life-changing experience. I went to space, after decades of playing a science-fiction character who was exploring the universe and building connections with many diverse life forms and cultures. I thought I would experience a similar feeling: a feeling of deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration. A call to indeed boldly go where no one had gone before.

I was absolutely wrong.

— My trip to space made me realise we have only one Earth – it must live long and prosper | William Shatner | The Guardian

No, that’s disturbing too. Surely, there must be something we can do to get the world on the right track.

Time for some hopepunk.

What Are Hopepunk Books, And Where Should I Get Started?

Coined by author Alexandra Rowland in 2017, the term hopepunk was created to be the anthesis of the grimdark genre. Instead of everything being sad and impossible, Alexandra was looking for books that were actually happy….

At its core, hopepunk is just about leaving the reader with hope for the future. Bad things can happen along the way, but they aren’t bad forever.

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Finally, because it’s awesome and at this point I think we can all use more positive thinking, The Amaterasu Railway Now Runs on Leftover Tonkotsu Ramen Broth.

Delicious.

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* For example, an asteroid hitting Lebanon, Kansas, the more or less geographic center of the continental US, would do significant damage via direct impact, shock waves, wind and earthquake. An asteroid hitting Chicago would be incomprehensibly catastrophic.

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