By Zan Dubin
11-7-25
Hello, my name is Zan, and I’m a Childless Cat Lady.
Nope, I don’t have kids. As I once heard someone say, the biological clock went off years ago and I hit snooze. Just never had a great yearning and today I know the planet can’t sustain 8 billion souls, anyway. I’m A-OK not having added to that burden.
But the good people who conducted the study that inspired this project say we can write to anyone or anything we love, pets included. And I really love my cats.
Don’t get me wrong. Some of my best friends are human. I love my family. But I love my cats, too.
I got both kitties, sisters, from the pound. They came home healthy, but with birth defects that left them with small, stubby tails. One’s tail is curvy, kind of like macaroni, so she is Mac n’ Cheese. Her sister, also black as night, came with an angular stump, so she’s Isosceles, like the triangle.
Do I engage in climate activism for my cats? I cannot really connect those dots, other than hoping that what I do helps ease the suffering of every living thing.
But this exercise has given me an interesting chance to take a look at it all.
One thing I know for sure: I strive to create a life for my two troublemakers that is devoid of pain and turmoil. I don’t even like making loud noises cuz they freak like cartoon felines whenever I do.
Part of my striving for a quiet, happy home for my cats is about my own mental health: If I think about it too much, I become plagued by my inability to rescue and comfort all the hurting animals in the world, domesticated or wild.
When I was little, I thought I could free all the parakeets in the tiny cages at Woolworths. Then all the caged parakeets in the world would be free.
I’m still working on a campaign to free the turtles used for entertainment at a bar near me which conducts turtle races every week for screaming patrons. A leading turtle biologist has termed this exploitation “inhumane” (all details here). But Brennan’s bar makes money on it, so it’s not stopping. Yet.
But yeah, if I dwell on this kind of thing–and I’ve seen those turtles hustle to escape their racing pen–I’d just go mentally broke.
So, I maintain sanity by telling myself that I can only and should only worry about the things I have a chance at changing or protecting, most of all Mac n’ Cheese and Isosceles. I try to give them good food, lots of cozy places to sleep, and lots of pets and kisses.
I love to see them stretch luxuriously when I approach. I read it means endorphins are coursing through their bodies, triggered by their happiness at seeing Mom.
Did you know that a high percentage of people who refuse to evacuate during emergencies cite their pets as the reason? This hit home hard during last January’s deadly LA fires. I was exceedingly lucky, I wasn’t even in a warning zone. But, with ash snowing in my backyard and my wind chime unceasing, I was close enough to get very ready to go, and to worry hard about transporting and housing the cats with me in a friend’s small one-bedroom apartment.
Climate change, as we well know, worsened those fires.
So, maybe it is all related.
No, I can’t rescue or comfort all the hurting animals in the world. I can’t fix climate change.
But I can provide my two sisters a good home and do my part to resist the forces decimating our environmental protections and despoiling our planet. Doing that, and trying to let go of the rest, keeps me happy and keeps me sane.
Thanks, Mac. Thanks, Isosceles.
Third Act SoCal’s “Letters to Loved Ones” project invites members to write letters about their efforts to ensure a healthy planet for their children and other loved ones. Read all about the project here. Consider writing a letter of your own and sending it to: socal@thirdact.org