Katie O'Neill, who is this year's May Queen said:
"Our planet is dying, and collectively we are living
through the cycles of grief.
"Denial - both the climate-change denialism of the
problem, and the retreat into a hedonistic 'what can
we do?'
"Anger - the rage at our leaders for their inaction,
or the simmering anger that our problems are
anyone's fault - the foreigners, the experts, the
ignorant - but our own.
"Bargaining - the energy spent on activism, the
hopes pinned on technology, that somehow we can stop
this, even reverse it.
"Depression - the epidemic of hopelessness, of
nihilism, for a future lost before it's begun.
"It is right to grieve. Grief is a sign of love, and
the Earth we love is dying.
"This year's Beltane reflects that grief. The May
Queen - embodiment of the Earth - arises this year,
not as the perfect flower of tradition, but as the
Earth as it truly is - covered with plastic, oil
spills, and on fire.
"She is angry, She is sad. She is grieving for what
is lost."
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