People costumed as quirky plants and animals, Climate March, London. Photo by Fiona Hanson/AP Images for AVAAZ

Yet for those who gathered in Britain, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Australia, the U.S. and 161 other countries, the march was a joyful, uplifting event.

How could this be so?

Because it's a wildly exhilarating thing to declare your passions about something and in the process meet others who feel the same.

At the New York march vegans and socialists marched together, children and elders, people in wheel chairs and people on stilts, musicians and mayors, even an ark bearing leaders of different faiths. All moved beyond private opinions and grudges to speak on behalf of our shared home, the Earth.

What we wanted, of course, was for the world leaders meeting at the UN this week to confront global warming with the same urgency we feel.

But even if we're disappointed again, we know our action counted, because we showed up to take it.

That's why our path at Radical Joy for Hard Times begins with making simple gifts of beauty for wounded places. Because it's the most intimate, extraordinary, and necessary thing you can do for one place in one moment.