Our climate therapist Leslie Davenport offers some tips to a reader struggling to understand why no one seems as motivated to engage in climate activism as they are
I feel the same way. Especially about people who have young kids and want to have kids and doing absolutely nothing against climate change, not even talking with their kids about it. I mean, YOUR kids gonna be here in 50 years. Your grandkids even later. Why do they not care? How can they not care about the future of their kids, it's literally the only task parents have 😅
Oh I know! This boggles my mind. I am so haunted by the earth our kids will inherit. It just feels so seismically overwhelming. I don't understand how it's not at the top of everyone's priority list!
This post came at the perfect time. I have been spiraling with disgust and anger at my colleagues at the EPA who, while not in denial of the facts obviously, are clearly in denial that the facts mean we need to make changes in our lives. When I first started at the agency 20 years ago, people were almost in competition on how "green" one could be. Now no one seems to care - hey life is good in the first world - party on! Even the agency is encouraging unnecessary flight trips for work. If people aren't awake to this crisis, then they will make bad decisions, at work and in their personal lives.
Agree...its just, people who should know better... But anger and rage really don't serve us at all. Detachment like the Buddhists is the best way. Trying...
Detachment in the Buddhist sense is the result of serious and sustained work. Frustration, anger, and rage are appropriate emotional responses to ecocide, genocide, and fascism and can and should be chanelled in appropriate ways, such as non-violent direct action.
I'm so grateful to read that others struggle with this as much as I do. I'm a volunteer, rather than a professional, so I don't have many other climate-concerned people in my life I can commiserate with. I'm working on it, but I guess the frequent grief and feelings of being alone and unsupported aren't as unique to me as I thought. Bravo on a great column.
Hi No Vacancy – I’ve had my sustainable heart broken too(oo) many times to count… and that is OK…
I’ve met whoa-many lovely folks on this journey and Gen Dread IS at the center of it all, the center of what keeps me going, and meeting people across industries, trying to find a collective way forward… trying to move the needle…
I have found solace and comfort and ways forward in international, regional, and importantly >>> local contexts, with new lifelong friends and associates. I would say all of our friends are local, once we’ve made them, and moving us forward. Sounds like landscape ecology?? :)
I cannot believe the amazing people I’ve met so far (tiny me, just a landscape architect), except that one of my new associates has always told me to keep leading with my heart. And, yes, it will continue getting broken. For me, it is the ‘wall of wait’ after submitting professional proposals, after making a difference, after introducing those amazing people (so much bigger than I am) and now this will happen…
And that <3 is what it is. Keep moving. Don’t give up the ship…
When we are feeling like we don’t really have anything left, there are always things left to be done here on Gen Dread, even if it is simply to keep reading, supporting, growing, learning, and being ready for that next impossible task at hand… and things to move forward = when we are able to handle them. We do need breaks. And most importantly: “(We) are so not alone” as I have learned here. :) <3
Andri Snaer Magnason writes so eloquently and experientially in his in-depth book “On Time And Water” 2019 – translated to English from Icelandic by Lytton Smith 2021 – that <and I’m paraphrasing here> we don’t have the collective language to communicate the gravity of these issues…
Another way to both grieve and connect, other than climate cafes, is the peer-to-peer practice of Focusing (finding words or images that bring into clarity what we are feeling, which results in felt changes for the better). There are groups that meet for free called Changes Groups that use this practice. A beautiful way to hold space for others and have our experiences held, seen and heard.
I feel the same way. Especially about people who have young kids and want to have kids and doing absolutely nothing against climate change, not even talking with their kids about it. I mean, YOUR kids gonna be here in 50 years. Your grandkids even later. Why do they not care? How can they not care about the future of their kids, it's literally the only task parents have 😅
Oof. Same here. This gets me a lot.
Oh I know! This boggles my mind. I am so haunted by the earth our kids will inherit. It just feels so seismically overwhelming. I don't understand how it's not at the top of everyone's priority list!
Agree
This post came at the perfect time. I have been spiraling with disgust and anger at my colleagues at the EPA who, while not in denial of the facts obviously, are clearly in denial that the facts mean we need to make changes in our lives. When I first started at the agency 20 years ago, people were almost in competition on how "green" one could be. Now no one seems to care - hey life is good in the first world - party on! Even the agency is encouraging unnecessary flight trips for work. If people aren't awake to this crisis, then they will make bad decisions, at work and in their personal lives.
I am shocked at all the careless flying around in general. I can't believe the EPA is encouraging it!
Reserve frustration, anger, and rage for the class of people causing ecocide: the billionaire financiers.
Agree...its just, people who should know better... But anger and rage really don't serve us at all. Detachment like the Buddhists is the best way. Trying...
Detachment in the Buddhist sense is the result of serious and sustained work. Frustration, anger, and rage are appropriate emotional responses to ecocide, genocide, and fascism and can and should be chanelled in appropriate ways, such as non-violent direct action.
As always with GenDread blogs, a really useful, insightful and reassuring read for anyone waking up to these realities. 🙏
I'm so grateful to read that others struggle with this as much as I do. I'm a volunteer, rather than a professional, so I don't have many other climate-concerned people in my life I can commiserate with. I'm working on it, but I guess the frequent grief and feelings of being alone and unsupported aren't as unique to me as I thought. Bravo on a great column.
Hi No Vacancy – I’ve had my sustainable heart broken too(oo) many times to count… and that is OK…
I’ve met whoa-many lovely folks on this journey and Gen Dread IS at the center of it all, the center of what keeps me going, and meeting people across industries, trying to find a collective way forward… trying to move the needle…
I have found solace and comfort and ways forward in international, regional, and importantly >>> local contexts, with new lifelong friends and associates. I would say all of our friends are local, once we’ve made them, and moving us forward. Sounds like landscape ecology?? :)
I cannot believe the amazing people I’ve met so far (tiny me, just a landscape architect), except that one of my new associates has always told me to keep leading with my heart. And, yes, it will continue getting broken. For me, it is the ‘wall of wait’ after submitting professional proposals, after making a difference, after introducing those amazing people (so much bigger than I am) and now this will happen…
And that <3 is what it is. Keep moving. Don’t give up the ship…
When we are feeling like we don’t really have anything left, there are always things left to be done here on Gen Dread, even if it is simply to keep reading, supporting, growing, learning, and being ready for that next impossible task at hand… and things to move forward = when we are able to handle them. We do need breaks. And most importantly: “(We) are so not alone” as I have learned here. :) <3
Andri Snaer Magnason writes so eloquently and experientially in his in-depth book “On Time And Water” 2019 – translated to English from Icelandic by Lytton Smith 2021 – that <and I’m paraphrasing here> we don’t have the collective language to communicate the gravity of these issues…
…not yet…
Another way to both grieve and connect, other than climate cafes, is the peer-to-peer practice of Focusing (finding words or images that bring into clarity what we are feeling, which results in felt changes for the better). There are groups that meet for free called Changes Groups that use this practice. A beautiful way to hold space for others and have our experiences held, seen and heard.
Hello Leslie,
I’ve responded here:
https://medium.com/@jeffmiller_14689/a-reply-to-a-crisis-minimizer-8356aa2420aa
… because my comment is too long for Substack.
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