Everyone Needs a Break

Not everyone gets to take one

Good morning, good afternoon or evening.

I made this video to work through some of the sadness I feel about the state of the world. So much of what is happening is beyond my ability to change, and that can feel overwhelming. Not that I feel that I ever had any ability to change anything but my own behavior.

I’ve been creating these short music videos for years. They are cathartic for me, even when they’re disturbing or unsettling, because they help me process emotions that are difficult to put into words, although everyone that follows my social media knows that putting things into words is generally not a problem.

Whether it’s through voting or making thoughtful choices about our own consumption, we all have some ability to make a difference. However, I do not delude myself into thinking that any of these will make the kind of changes our beautiful earth needs to stay habitable because the larger geopolitical and environmental picture is sickening.

Of course there are amazing people doing amazing things, such as Adam McKay, who in July 2026, with Yellow Dot Studios launched an open emergency letter campaign published in major U.S. newspapers warning that the 2026 El Niño is a critical public safety crisis.

Then there are local activists- Stewarding Allegany County These are people who want to preserve the greenspace and have more accountability by big tech as to where the techno utopian fantasy projects are placed in a rural community.

And then there are those who simply can't "take a break." They live in places that have been targeted by war, occupation, exploitation and ecocide, places that continue to be devastated by powerful nations and geopolitical interests, in other words, EMPIRE.

The men, women and children that the world has witnessed via social media being blown up by bombs for the past several years, ie: the flattening of Gaza, the violence being perpetrated in Lebanon and the West Bank, along with areas in Iran. We can’t forget the destruction of the fertile farmland in Ukraine and the slaughter of young military members in all the countries.

Their suffering is impossible to ignore, and it remains one of my deepest emotional triggers, it hurts.

Finally, for me, it is the wildlife. It is the farm animals trapped behind fences with nowhere to run. Whether it be in war or fires, floods or droughts, those are the images that stay with me. They don’t just break my heart, they affect my whole being. The emotional weight of witnessing so much suffering has intensified my physical pain at a time when I can least afford it.

I know I am not alone.

To top it all off, I’ve developed trigger finger in the ring finger of my right hand. It’s surprisingly painful. My hand is telling me what my body has been trying to tell me for a long time: I need to stop typing so much, spend less time on the mouse, and ease up on the right-hand-heavy gardening work.

Can I do that? Probably not, but I can try for a few days.

The climate crisis won’t take a break, and the wars won’t end because I step away for a moment. I am but a microscopic dot blending in with hundreds of millions of microscopic dots.

But if I’m going to keep doing this, I have to make sure I can keep showing up. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.

Thank you for walking this road with me.

There have been so many times this year when I’ve wanted to give it all up. But I keep going because of the people who have supported Environmental Coffeehouse over the years. Through every season, you’ve been there, listening, learning, laughing, crying (which I have been known to do right on camera) & caring-with me and with the team of people such as the moderators on the YouTube and Jonathan Oh, the editor of the Facebook page and Brett, the manager of the Discord.

I may not know each of you personally, but I appreciate every one of you more than I can say. The benefits of a small channel are immeasurable.

This was never about clicks, likes, continual thoughtless content or money. Not for me.

Thank you for being part of this community. It means the world to me.

Sandy Schoelles

Cartoon : Bizzarro
Clips: Storyblocks- original video clips by artists who create and earn by uploading their work to Storyblocks- not AI (I hate having to say that..but the era of confusion is upon us)
AP
Social Media
etc.
Music : Beyond Elysium
Wellmess, Tommy Ljungberg

The work never stops