Excellent thoughts in your review of Don't Look Up. Now to deepen the matter a bit, I'm an ecological designer, which colours my attitudes to the climate predicament. Specifically, I consider the processes of human induced climate change to be a secondary effect of the larger reality of the human species over-consumption of the energy and material processes of the planet. The tendency for high trophic order species to have such impacts on their environment is widely known in ecological circles. We are not an exceptional species with respect to ecological processes. We are simply able to be far more global and multilayered in our effects due to various cultural and technological "advances". In the end, high trophic order species exhibit boom and bust cycles, extinction, or develop behavioural adaptations that serve to limit populations and consumptive effects (for example, territoriality or mating constraints). I am "optimistic" that we can come to see the necessity and eventual benefits of consciously evolving into symbiont species rather than continuing our dominant collective behaviour, which can only be labelled as a predatory parasites. Another thought- species evolve at the uncomfortable edges of their current habitat. Look to the adaptive responses of some less advantaged regions, rather than expecting the effective adaptation to arise in the comfortable privileged areas of Europe, most of N America and industrialized Asia. I am inspired by Cuba, Kerala, Rwanda, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and some remote regions of Scandinavia and Canada.
Yes and you rightly point out that to change our situation we need to go way deeper than talking about the climate - - - it is about changing our values and sense of connection to other living systems
To the question in the headline — "is Don't Look Up the first climate psych film?" — I think that title still has to go to "First Reformed", even if "First Reformed" was much smaller in terms of buzz. However, whereas "First Reformed" focused more strictly on climate anxiety and despair, I think "Don't Look Up" is the first climate-*activism* psych film.
What is special and unique about the psychology portrayed in "Don't Look Up" is that it shows how our current media environment (driven by celebrity, sensation, and comfort) and political system can mess with the minds of even the most well-intended climate activists. I say this as someone who felt the need to step back from the frontlines of the climate movement after appearing in a climate documentary! I certainly saw elements of myself in both Leonardo DiCaprio's character and Jennifer Lawrence's character.
You're so right about that! I loved First Reformed too. It's definitely a climate psych film. I like the idea that this is the first climate - activism - psych film.
Re: climate conversations, I find that as I work in climate action, the climate crisis gets brought up at holidays whether I want it to or not! It's an odd phenomenon usually triggered by hearing that I'm vegan or an activist, where people start explaining how they're trying to be more sustainable - but then start explaining all the reasons they can't do XYZ.
I feel like I'm being put in the position of some kind of judge, expected to either validate or criticise other people's life choices. It's lose-lose whatever I say! I wonder if anyone else in the climate movement has this experience?
I also loved the movie and felt the comfort of a movie recognizing the feelings of folks working on climate preservation. Regarding the books for discussions between parents and kids... Perhaps we need one for young adults to talk to their parents about climate change and what it means as they will face increasing climate stress across the world for decades longer than the parents. Also a chapter on "Could you deploy another $10k of your nest egg into home electrification to get that industry ramped up to preserve a functioning climate? I promise I won't miss the tiny reduction in the size of the estate you leave. But I will appreciate a functioning climate system." I think all parents need a nudge form the generation(s) facing the problem.
I really struggle with how to have conversations with people about this (climate change / eco collapse). Most people in my immediate circle / where I live (NYC) are already pretty much there, if not agreeing with me about how dire it is. But - I had a conversation with my dad last night - democrat, lives in Nevada, believes in climate change and does not deny this at all or how bad it is, but is so utterly discouraged by politics he thinks everything is in vain and nothing is possible. Thinks our country (America) used to stand for something and does no longer (he's 73) and that he can't hardly watch the news and is now so consumed with Ukraine / Russia conflict - believes that climate change is now being trumped (ugh lol) by potential nuclear conflict. And I don't disagree with him about that. What I do disagree with is that he basically thinks we're completely fucked, nothing can be done, that democrats are as bad as republicans (they most definitely are not), that democratic / liberal leaning media is as bad as conservative media (most definitely IS NOT)... and on and on. He is so utterly belligerent about this. It's weird to be at this place in my life (mid 30s) - I went through huge eco-distress in 2019 - I'm writing a film about it as we speak - and yet now, because of my processing I guess, I find this time to be an incredibly hopeful and optimistic time - in spite of how much I know these challenges to be difficult and maybe overwhelming in the sense that we won't have political will / consensus to stop crisis before it becomes too bad. I've read all the shit, I understand it, I know what the worst of the worst is, I understand that individual actions mean nothing if not scaled with political action. In spite of this - I feel excited to see what we will do. I feel encouraged to know that even if the worst comes to bear, the earth will still be here and will wipe itself and start anew, however long that process will be. I cannot figure out how to talk to my dad about this and convince him all is not lost / there aren't things that can be done / that humans have not become more stupid / etc. This is also his perspective through his depression at being in his 70s and thinking he will die soon and there's nothing he can do to stop that, and that he'll die before he sees anything really change anyway, etc. I don't begin to know how to talk about climate with people who disbelieve - but this conversation is even harder. I guess ultimately I just have to support him but I want him to believe that we are not completely fucked. At the end of the day, I think our mental state / attitude has a lot to do with pretty much everything. That's a really good reason to be positive. And even tho he is super controversial, I agree w Elon Musk - I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right. Anyway - this is a lot.
" it is always a good idea to accompany scary stories with ideas about what can be done to improve things, which fear-inducing climate stories often skip over."
And also what does sustainability look like. Britt, I'd be interested in seeing your favorite fiction/vision of a sustainable future. I've recently read Aldous Huxley's "Island" and found it to be as relevant today as when he wrote it in 1962.
I felt the movie, Don't Look Up, to be very uncomedic. My twenty-something daughter and I sat and cried through a great deal of it. It definitely hit us in the face with the all too absurd truth of our reality. I'm afraid however many people, highly intelligent people, we know missed the point all together. Sadly there needed to be a written statement at the end..."this was actually about the climate crisis".
All this said you mentioned that you and others see people in your therapy practice with climate anxiety. I for one have intense, chronic climate anxiety. I was wondering, Britt, if you could tell me how do I go about finding a therapist that is knowledgeable about this and able to address my issues with this?
Thank you for sharing how the film landed for you and your daughter. I'm not a therapist but I do know where to find climate-aware therapists who can help with eco-anxiety. Where are you located? If in North America, this directory is the best place to look one up: https://www.climatepsychology.us/climate-therapists If you're somewhere else, there are other avenues to take that I might be able to help with.
Britt, fyi, David Wallace-Wells has a surname that combines the surnames of his mother and father, who when they married both took the married surname that they gave to their two sons, David and Ben. So David should be called Wallace-Wells in second reference, not Wells. For future reference.
I (67) had a difficult conversation with my daughter (34), about her feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and her fears for the future, as well as about her anger at my generation for the world her generation is inheriting. I spoke about sharing many of her feelings, and also about holding a space for hope, while we are not seeming to move forward at the level of our current discussion, that we are in the middle of a paradigm shift that will open new possibilities for constructive collective understanding and action. She initially expressed anger at me for what she saw as my being critical of her for not having hope, which I assured her was not what I meant to convey. She later apologized for this.
For Christmas, I gave her a copy of Charles Eisenstein's The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. I am hoping that she may read it and that it may open up a the possibility of our having a different conversation.
This is very relatable. Same age difference as me and my mom, and some similar (though not exactly the same) conversations we've had. I will flag this to visit for the future piece. Thank you.
The hardest climate conversation I’ve had to have was with my mom. She considers herself an environmentalist, but she spent most of her career working in finance, for one of the biggest funders of fossil fuels in our country. She isn’t able to reconcile that she can disagree with what this bank is doing and still feel proud of the work she did for them. I’ve asked her about either divesting from the bank, or using her position as an investor to push them to divest from fossil fuels, and she doesn’t seem to want to do either of these things, and refuses to see that it’s antithetical to her views about how important the climate crisis is. I’m not sure how to talk to her without her getting defensive about her long career with a fossil fuel funder.
What a powerful story and vital example of the climate crisis is showing up in people's relationships, how defences are thwarting connection, understanding, and action, and how fraught these convos can be. Thank you for sharing. I will definitely bring this story forth for the future piece I mentioned, hopefully we can gather some helpful insights for you. Stay tuned.
I think it's great that you are talking about this here and trying to figure out a way to deal with it; It will be good to see how things unfold for you and your mom. . .and what others might be able to learn from your experience. I imagine this can be extremely difficult so I hope you also find the support for yourself to take on this challenge...in some ways it is the most essential challenge there is. Stay in your heart!
I was disappointed with Don't Look Up. It left me feeling depressed. It made me feel like nothing will help so why try? Why do anything? I don't understand how these committed climate activists could come up with such a gloomy story that doesn't inspire anyone to do anything. And it won't change minds either because deniers will just say... look they are only trying to scare people. I have written a hopeful climate fiction but I can't get anyone to back it, yet people are still spending time and money producing depressing apocalyptic stories like this. Sad. And it wasn't even very funny.
Excellent thoughts in your review of Don't Look Up. Now to deepen the matter a bit, I'm an ecological designer, which colours my attitudes to the climate predicament. Specifically, I consider the processes of human induced climate change to be a secondary effect of the larger reality of the human species over-consumption of the energy and material processes of the planet. The tendency for high trophic order species to have such impacts on their environment is widely known in ecological circles. We are not an exceptional species with respect to ecological processes. We are simply able to be far more global and multilayered in our effects due to various cultural and technological "advances". In the end, high trophic order species exhibit boom and bust cycles, extinction, or develop behavioural adaptations that serve to limit populations and consumptive effects (for example, territoriality or mating constraints). I am "optimistic" that we can come to see the necessity and eventual benefits of consciously evolving into symbiont species rather than continuing our dominant collective behaviour, which can only be labelled as a predatory parasites. Another thought- species evolve at the uncomfortable edges of their current habitat. Look to the adaptive responses of some less advantaged regions, rather than expecting the effective adaptation to arise in the comfortable privileged areas of Europe, most of N America and industrialized Asia. I am inspired by Cuba, Kerala, Rwanda, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and some remote regions of Scandinavia and Canada.
Yes and you rightly point out that to change our situation we need to go way deeper than talking about the climate - - - it is about changing our values and sense of connection to other living systems
To the question in the headline — "is Don't Look Up the first climate psych film?" — I think that title still has to go to "First Reformed", even if "First Reformed" was much smaller in terms of buzz. However, whereas "First Reformed" focused more strictly on climate anxiety and despair, I think "Don't Look Up" is the first climate-*activism* psych film.
What is special and unique about the psychology portrayed in "Don't Look Up" is that it shows how our current media environment (driven by celebrity, sensation, and comfort) and political system can mess with the minds of even the most well-intended climate activists. I say this as someone who felt the need to step back from the frontlines of the climate movement after appearing in a climate documentary! I certainly saw elements of myself in both Leonardo DiCaprio's character and Jennifer Lawrence's character.
You're so right about that! I loved First Reformed too. It's definitely a climate psych film. I like the idea that this is the first climate - activism - psych film.
Dr Wray great to have you back!
Thank you!
Re: climate conversations, I find that as I work in climate action, the climate crisis gets brought up at holidays whether I want it to or not! It's an odd phenomenon usually triggered by hearing that I'm vegan or an activist, where people start explaining how they're trying to be more sustainable - but then start explaining all the reasons they can't do XYZ.
I feel like I'm being put in the position of some kind of judge, expected to either validate or criticise other people's life choices. It's lose-lose whatever I say! I wonder if anyone else in the climate movement has this experience?
I've heard this a lot. Will definitely flag for the future coming piece. Thanks for sharing!
I also loved the movie and felt the comfort of a movie recognizing the feelings of folks working on climate preservation. Regarding the books for discussions between parents and kids... Perhaps we need one for young adults to talk to their parents about climate change and what it means as they will face increasing climate stress across the world for decades longer than the parents. Also a chapter on "Could you deploy another $10k of your nest egg into home electrification to get that industry ramped up to preserve a functioning climate? I promise I won't miss the tiny reduction in the size of the estate you leave. But I will appreciate a functioning climate system." I think all parents need a nudge form the generation(s) facing the problem.
I really struggle with how to have conversations with people about this (climate change / eco collapse). Most people in my immediate circle / where I live (NYC) are already pretty much there, if not agreeing with me about how dire it is. But - I had a conversation with my dad last night - democrat, lives in Nevada, believes in climate change and does not deny this at all or how bad it is, but is so utterly discouraged by politics he thinks everything is in vain and nothing is possible. Thinks our country (America) used to stand for something and does no longer (he's 73) and that he can't hardly watch the news and is now so consumed with Ukraine / Russia conflict - believes that climate change is now being trumped (ugh lol) by potential nuclear conflict. And I don't disagree with him about that. What I do disagree with is that he basically thinks we're completely fucked, nothing can be done, that democrats are as bad as republicans (they most definitely are not), that democratic / liberal leaning media is as bad as conservative media (most definitely IS NOT)... and on and on. He is so utterly belligerent about this. It's weird to be at this place in my life (mid 30s) - I went through huge eco-distress in 2019 - I'm writing a film about it as we speak - and yet now, because of my processing I guess, I find this time to be an incredibly hopeful and optimistic time - in spite of how much I know these challenges to be difficult and maybe overwhelming in the sense that we won't have political will / consensus to stop crisis before it becomes too bad. I've read all the shit, I understand it, I know what the worst of the worst is, I understand that individual actions mean nothing if not scaled with political action. In spite of this - I feel excited to see what we will do. I feel encouraged to know that even if the worst comes to bear, the earth will still be here and will wipe itself and start anew, however long that process will be. I cannot figure out how to talk to my dad about this and convince him all is not lost / there aren't things that can be done / that humans have not become more stupid / etc. This is also his perspective through his depression at being in his 70s and thinking he will die soon and there's nothing he can do to stop that, and that he'll die before he sees anything really change anyway, etc. I don't begin to know how to talk about climate with people who disbelieve - but this conversation is even harder. I guess ultimately I just have to support him but I want him to believe that we are not completely fucked. At the end of the day, I think our mental state / attitude has a lot to do with pretty much everything. That's a really good reason to be positive. And even tho he is super controversial, I agree w Elon Musk - I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right. Anyway - this is a lot.
" it is always a good idea to accompany scary stories with ideas about what can be done to improve things, which fear-inducing climate stories often skip over."
And also what does sustainability look like. Britt, I'd be interested in seeing your favorite fiction/vision of a sustainable future. I've recently read Aldous Huxley's "Island" and found it to be as relevant today as when he wrote it in 1962.
I felt the movie, Don't Look Up, to be very uncomedic. My twenty-something daughter and I sat and cried through a great deal of it. It definitely hit us in the face with the all too absurd truth of our reality. I'm afraid however many people, highly intelligent people, we know missed the point all together. Sadly there needed to be a written statement at the end..."this was actually about the climate crisis".
All this said you mentioned that you and others see people in your therapy practice with climate anxiety. I for one have intense, chronic climate anxiety. I was wondering, Britt, if you could tell me how do I go about finding a therapist that is knowledgeable about this and able to address my issues with this?
Thank you for sharing how the film landed for you and your daughter. I'm not a therapist but I do know where to find climate-aware therapists who can help with eco-anxiety. Where are you located? If in North America, this directory is the best place to look one up: https://www.climatepsychology.us/climate-therapists If you're somewhere else, there are other avenues to take that I might be able to help with.
Britt, fyi, David Wallace-Wells has a surname that combines the surnames of his mother and father, who when they married both took the married surname that they gave to their two sons, David and Ben. So David should be called Wallace-Wells in second reference, not Wells. For future reference.
Ah yes, mistakes of a 4 am foggy writer's brain (wrote this when my baby woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep). Fixed, thanks.
Thanks for reply. Dan , amateur proofreader
I (67) had a difficult conversation with my daughter (34), about her feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and her fears for the future, as well as about her anger at my generation for the world her generation is inheriting. I spoke about sharing many of her feelings, and also about holding a space for hope, while we are not seeming to move forward at the level of our current discussion, that we are in the middle of a paradigm shift that will open new possibilities for constructive collective understanding and action. She initially expressed anger at me for what she saw as my being critical of her for not having hope, which I assured her was not what I meant to convey. She later apologized for this.
For Christmas, I gave her a copy of Charles Eisenstein's The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. I am hoping that she may read it and that it may open up a the possibility of our having a different conversation.
This is very relatable. Same age difference as me and my mom, and some similar (though not exactly the same) conversations we've had. I will flag this to visit for the future piece. Thank you.
The hardest climate conversation I’ve had to have was with my mom. She considers herself an environmentalist, but she spent most of her career working in finance, for one of the biggest funders of fossil fuels in our country. She isn’t able to reconcile that she can disagree with what this bank is doing and still feel proud of the work she did for them. I’ve asked her about either divesting from the bank, or using her position as an investor to push them to divest from fossil fuels, and she doesn’t seem to want to do either of these things, and refuses to see that it’s antithetical to her views about how important the climate crisis is. I’m not sure how to talk to her without her getting defensive about her long career with a fossil fuel funder.
What a powerful story and vital example of the climate crisis is showing up in people's relationships, how defences are thwarting connection, understanding, and action, and how fraught these convos can be. Thank you for sharing. I will definitely bring this story forth for the future piece I mentioned, hopefully we can gather some helpful insights for you. Stay tuned.
my heart goes out to you! maybe set up an appt with a therapist of spiritual advisor--as a neutral zone in which the two of you can talk
That’s a great idea, thank you!
I think it's great that you are talking about this here and trying to figure out a way to deal with it; It will be good to see how things unfold for you and your mom. . .and what others might be able to learn from your experience. I imagine this can be extremely difficult so I hope you also find the support for yourself to take on this challenge...in some ways it is the most essential challenge there is. Stay in your heart!
Thank you! It’s an ongoing conversation :)
I was disappointed with Don't Look Up. It left me feeling depressed. It made me feel like nothing will help so why try? Why do anything? I don't understand how these committed climate activists could come up with such a gloomy story that doesn't inspire anyone to do anything. And it won't change minds either because deniers will just say... look they are only trying to scare people. I have written a hopeful climate fiction but I can't get anyone to back it, yet people are still spending time and money producing depressing apocalyptic stories like this. Sad. And it wasn't even very funny.
Thanks for telling us how it landed for you. If at some point you have any links to your hopeful climate fiction, feel free to share them here.