Thank you! I have been reading your articles, they do help. I've signed up to know about the next program from The Good Grief Network. I have been really scared of any climate-related news since I was a teenager, I've always avoided anything I possibly could, because I always believed I wouldn't be able to deal with it (knowing). I'm not sure what happened now, but I just went to the other extreme and have been reading a lot of things. Discovering the concept of 'eco-anxiety' has been very interesting. There are not many (if any) resources here in Brazil that I could find. I hope regular therapy will help so I can at least not have anxiety attacks and difficulty working, socializing etc. I think scared and grieving I can handle, but I do need to control my panic :) Thank you for your work!
Thanks Britt, I shared the article you wrote for the Walrus and the message resonated with me and the climate action circle virtual in Canada (with American members)who gathered to read All We Can Save and continue with bi-weekly meeting as we remain committed to moving the dial on insightful, deliberate conversations about climate change, advocacy and action!
That's so great that you're book-clubbing All We Can Save - it's a fantastic collection. Thanks for sharing my article with your group (and staying committed through the tough stuff!)
"An environmental theologian, he described how many people, even far from the front lines of climate change, are increasingly being forced to confront the idea of their own vulnerability because “the world is revealed to be much more tragic and fragile than people thought it was.”"
It goes further than that - it is also grief around the recognition that we caused this, though that blame can also be laid at the feet of specific industries or corporations, all of us in the industrialized countries are at least partially responsible.
Precisely because this isn't a pathology, I'd like to see more alliances between therapists/care providers, coaches, and activists to help people move healthfully through and then outwards from all of the aspects of emotional turmoil around these issues in mirroring and other workshop formats -- so folks can come into community to recognize they are not the only ones feeling this, it is a collective grief, and from there to move to effective collaborative action.
The sense of powerlessness is a learned / conditioned behavior driven into us by lifetime of advertising and social/economic structures which make us feel we have no influence. The opposite is the case if we can have the support needed to take the steps from that learned helplessness back to full agency.
Obviously climate grief and all that entails will be an ongoing aspect of our work together, it will never go away, but we can use it as fuel for what needs doing. We've already seen what the alternative looks like - staying in powerlessness/paralysis is not the way.
Thanks to you for all you are doing to raise awareness. And I should have added, there are many existing and several nascent approaches, methodologies, and interventions (community based workshops, etc.) that already exist, including but not limited to:
Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects
Dr. Renee Lertzman's Project Inside Out (whom you've featured)
I've heard of it but I don't ascribe to the 'near term human extinction' train of thought, which categorizes all transformational possibilities as 'hopium'.
I am at the grief stage, it's difficult to believe O can come out from the other side. It's been some really anxious weeks for me recently.
It can be super duper tough. I spent years in a state of terror...and sometimes can find myself back there but know how to rise out of it now more readily. This stuff can take time. Hugs. I wonder if either of these pieces might help you on your journey: https://gendread.substack.com/p/recap-why-activism-isnt-really-the and https://gendread.substack.com/p/what-are-emotional-methodologies
Thank you! I have been reading your articles, they do help. I've signed up to know about the next program from The Good Grief Network. I have been really scared of any climate-related news since I was a teenager, I've always avoided anything I possibly could, because I always believed I wouldn't be able to deal with it (knowing). I'm not sure what happened now, but I just went to the other extreme and have been reading a lot of things. Discovering the concept of 'eco-anxiety' has been very interesting. There are not many (if any) resources here in Brazil that I could find. I hope regular therapy will help so I can at least not have anxiety attacks and difficulty working, socializing etc. I think scared and grieving I can handle, but I do need to control my panic :) Thank you for your work!
Thanks Britt, I shared the article you wrote for the Walrus and the message resonated with me and the climate action circle virtual in Canada (with American members)who gathered to read All We Can Save and continue with bi-weekly meeting as we remain committed to moving the dial on insightful, deliberate conversations about climate change, advocacy and action!
That's so great that you're book-clubbing All We Can Save - it's a fantastic collection. Thanks for sharing my article with your group (and staying committed through the tough stuff!)
"An environmental theologian, he described how many people, even far from the front lines of climate change, are increasingly being forced to confront the idea of their own vulnerability because “the world is revealed to be much more tragic and fragile than people thought it was.”"
It goes further than that - it is also grief around the recognition that we caused this, though that blame can also be laid at the feet of specific industries or corporations, all of us in the industrialized countries are at least partially responsible.
Precisely because this isn't a pathology, I'd like to see more alliances between therapists/care providers, coaches, and activists to help people move healthfully through and then outwards from all of the aspects of emotional turmoil around these issues in mirroring and other workshop formats -- so folks can come into community to recognize they are not the only ones feeling this, it is a collective grief, and from there to move to effective collaborative action.
The sense of powerlessness is a learned / conditioned behavior driven into us by lifetime of advertising and social/economic structures which make us feel we have no influence. The opposite is the case if we can have the support needed to take the steps from that learned helplessness back to full agency.
Obviously climate grief and all that entails will be an ongoing aspect of our work together, it will never go away, but we can use it as fuel for what needs doing. We've already seen what the alternative looks like - staying in powerlessness/paralysis is not the way.
Fully agree with everything you've written here. Thanks Peter!
Thanks to you for all you are doing to raise awareness. And I should have added, there are many existing and several nascent approaches, methodologies, and interventions (community based workshops, etc.) that already exist, including but not limited to:
Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects
Dr. Renee Lertzman's Project Inside Out (whom you've featured)
Alex Evans and Kate Pumphrey's A Larger Us https://www.larger.us/
Frederic Laloux's The Week
Dr. Josie McLean's sustainability work in Australia
Glad to provide intros to those working on the newer ones if helpful.
Thanks very much Peter. I don't know of Evans/Pumphrey, Laloux or McLean - will have to check those out.
I'll email you some links w. background.
Have you looked at NATUREBATSLAST.COM by Dr Guy MCPHERSON? It’s all over by 2026.
I've heard of it but I don't ascribe to the 'near term human extinction' train of thought, which categorizes all transformational possibilities as 'hopium'.