The Spring of Mothers’ Discontent

Guest Opinion

By Cathye Williams | May 9, 2026

The first day of spring is hardly ever springlike here in the northern latitudes. While we might think that “vernal equinox” sounds very sciency, we all know we’ll still be schlepping around in insulated boots and poofy coats. No one puts away their ice scrapers until well into April. I myself keep a stash of hats and mittens by the door until Memorial Day.

Mother’s Day is my season opener. Spring is nothing if not maternal, with life emerging, buzzing, chirping, and sprouting all around. I’ll watch my ancient crapapple tree burst into bloom, always fearing it will be its last. I stand under it, breathing in the sweet scent and survey the garden that’s waiting for me to get moving already.

My thoughts wander back decades to the Mother’s Days spent at my own mom’s. My siblings and I skipped the fancy brunch scene and gathered at her house for yardwork and planting. Flowers were in pots, not bouquets—they were going in the ground. Someone usually found something to grouch about, but in the end we were all okay with slightly sore muscles and taking orders from our mother.

In southern Michigan the weather was more reliably springlike, and with all of us at it the work went quickly. We’d fill our plates with comfort food and cheers to another year of getting ‘er done, thinking ahead to the untended garden beds waiting for us at home. Putzing around the yard is considered a good time in our family, and Mom was in her glory days having us along for it.

She’s been gone more than two decades now. While I rake and plant, I wonder what she would think about this spring and these most troubling times. She lived through the Great Depression and watched Americans leave home to fight in five wars, but I don’t think any of that would have prepared her for what is unfolding in our country today under MAGA rule.

It’s hard to keep these thoughts at bay, even in the places I go to escape the news—the woods, the garden, the river. The signs are everywhere that things are not normal. All over Michigan there have been record flood damages, even while many are still reeling from late winter tornadoes and ice storms. All indicators tell us this is only the beginning.

Not only do these events put our families and homes in physical danger, there are serious economic repercussions. Missed work and school disrupt the local economy. Municipalities, public utilities, home and business owners, and taxpayers all bear parts of the cost to repair buildings and infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams, and drains) which early estimates put at over $800 million for April floods (CMU Public Media) and $200 million for the tornadoes and ice storms in March, leaving a $15 million dollar shortfall in state contingency funds. (Detroit News, Bridge Michigan)

Scientists and other experts agree these severe weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. The same climate change that the Republican administration and Congress either deny or ignore, as they cancel or delay billions in wind and solar energy projects.

The irony is that Trump’s unauthorized war has sent the price of fossil fuels—and everything they are used for—soaring. Had the clean energy projects launched during the last administration gone forward, we would be moving toward true energy independence and saving loads with solar and wind energy, now well below the cost of coal and natural gas to produce and deliver. China, on the other hand, is far less concerned with the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, because its big investment in wind power is paying off.

MAGA world’s dismissal of the risks and impacts of climate change is astoundingly tone deaf, considering that upwards 60-65 percent of Americans are worried about climate change, and “a majority (61-66 percent) believe climate impacts have already begun and that the environment is worsening” (Gallup News). If our government acted in response to this, like other advanced democracies that have invested in clean energy, we’d be breathing cleaner air and watching our energy costs go steadily down.

Instead, Trump started a war that, besides lives lost, is estimated to be costing the U.S. between $890 million and $2 billion per day (CNN, Center for Strategic and International Studies).
And while he’s killing innocent civilians, likely committing war crimes, threatening global security, and destroying our children’s future, he and his oil buddies are getting richer: “Oil companies are experiencing a massive profit surge, with top firms generating roughly $30 million per hour in windfall profits during the 2026 Iran conflict due to soaring energy prices” (New York Times).

In retrospect, I don’t really wonder what Mom would be thinking if she was here with me this Mother’ s Day. She’d be mad as hell, and she’d want to do something about it. Miss you, Maryanna…I’m on it.

Cathye Williams is a local climate activist. She writes from the northern corner of Manistee County.