This Morning, in the Bambësch Forest . . . I returned to a magnificent freedom rarely touched since childhood. Feet on the zip line’s seat . . . both hands on the chain . . . and flying!! In the Bambësch forest, under a low winter sky, for a few seconds at 7AM . . . I allowed myself to forget the vocabulary of urgency, crisis, targets, metrics, and deadlines.
I let go . . . and I flew. Not far . . . but free. No tension. My pear-shaped weight . . . perfectly balanced. Absolute, instinctive, impulsive trust in momentum. The smiles that arrives when gravity becomes Play. This was not exercise in the transactional sense. No gym. No trainer. No Peloton. Movement as memory. Joy as muscle.
We speak often about Sustainability . . . as if it were mostly conferences to attend + grids to optimize + emissions to reduce + systems to reform. All of that matters deeply. Sustainability also lives in these smaller, quieter acts . . . moments when we remember what the human nervous system needs in order to remain kind, thoughtful, and awake:
Forests do that.
Public spaces do that.
Play does that.
The Bambësch is not a wilderness in the romantic sense. It is a semi-managed forest, threaded with paths, benches, playgrounds, signs, and rules. Precisely because of that, the Bambësch Forest is a form of Decency-Democracy. A place where a child, a parent, an elder, or a climate Chargé de Mission can all arrive without credentials . . . and leave slightly more whole.
Public bathrooms welcome babies and people in wheelchairs. Men and women. Without commentary. Standing on the upper deck of the zip line, I felt something that is increasingly rare in adult life . . . earned happiness. I last felt this after climbing with June and Bernie Pausback up to Aspen Skiing Company’s 10th Mountain Huts . . . for a weekend back in March 2003. The joy that comes from simply being allowed to be light at the right moment.
How best do you protect what you love? People who play do not forget why protection is worth the effort. People who heal rarely confuse urgency with wisdom. This morning was not an escape from responsibility. It was a return to it . . . grounded in breath, balance, and sand underfoot. Climate action needs courage. Courage needs health. Health needs joy. Joy often begins in places like a forest playground in Luxembourg, during the Christmas holidays, when nobody is watching at 7 a.m. . . . and nothing needs to be proven.
I stepped off the zip-line smiling. That smile will travel with me into meetings, writing, advocacy, and difficult conversations . . . quieter, steadier, more human. That . . . too . . . is climate work. Have a beautiful day.
P.S. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals resonating here:
‣ SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3
‣ SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11
‣ SDG 13 Climate Action https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13
‣ SDG 15 Life on Land https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15
