"I was enveloped by extreme, desperate sadness. My overwhelming sense of obligation left me feeling stuck. I couldn’t exist and do nothing about the humanitarian crises caused by climate catastrophe. But doing something felt pointless, draining, and isolating."
This paragraph resonated with me so very much. I have been an activist for over 30 years and I can relate to this feeling so well. On the one hand, once I became aware, I could not just sit by and do nothing. At the same time, I've found out over my years of activism that doing something has also felt pointless. I, too, have considered suicide due to my despair.
I have felt over the years like I'm watching a horrible never-ending car crash in slow motion, but I'm not able to do anything much to help. It's like the collision has already happened, and all I can do is watch. My hands are tied because I cannot do this alone. The wheels have already been set in motion, and there aren't enough others working to stop the inertia of this crash. Most just drive by the crash and carry on with their lives, even though this crash is already affecting every being on our planet.
I still have not yet come up any clear answers regarding this. I just know how very much this article resonated with me and the importance of making the connection between eco-anxiety and mental health, especially for those like the anonymous, brave young 17 year old who wrote to you.
The personal toll is enormous, but it is especially saddening to know how this issue is affecting current and future leaders and changemakers. We and our planet can't afford NOT to do what needs to be done to support and help these leaders succeed. For their sake, and also for the sake of a dying planet.
Thank you for this article and helping to raise awareness of the issues faced by those with boots on the ground. With awareness we can help create change and support necessary for these dedicated leaders.
I was really impressed with the insight and awareness that the 17 year old letter writer brought to bear in describing her experience and I hope she continues to write going forward. I don't feel like this valuable point-of-view is often heard (besides Greta Thunberg), and I think us 'grown-ups' need to hear how it feels to be a sensitive adolescent deeply involved with this ongoing existential climate threat.
Many of the 40-somethings I know are busy navigating day jobs that become time and energy drains- leaving ongoing emotions about climate change compartmentalized in a separate mental bin somewhere to the side or back of the psyche. I think more adults need to learn how to be honest about what they are shoving to the side and how much they are not presenting as part of "the "whole" me" (as the writer commented about what her friends saw). There needs to be more willingness to see how climate distress is thrumming along and blending in with other sources of stress & distress in our individual lives.
We also need to take this seriously when it comes to those of us who have actively been trying to do something about climate and the impacts. I came to public health from an environmental activism background, and I draw on a deep well of my own climate trauma to fuel my professional duties and passion, but I sometimes just have to shut it all off - and then I feel guilty because of the pervasive YOU CAN ALWAYS DO MORE. I'm tired of always do more. We need to stop this. We need more people doing. But we need to be kind to ourselves and each other about our limits of capacity to bear more trauma in the service of the fight.
This is so moving and seriously important. One of the thoughts I am having is how hard it is to show up with all your eco-grief emotions around other people. I find people are put off by me, or at the very least just don't know what to say, in the face of my complex and often overwhelming emotions around climate change/biodiversity loss. It's just not on their minds, and they resort to typical mechanisms - soothing, advice giving, encouraging me to see the bright side, positing that "oh don't worry, new species will evolve". I treasure the few relationships I have where I can get dark and just....hold holds with someone there, metaphorically. Not run away to greener pastures. These are rare and vital meetings of the heart for me, because when I hide my feelings and turn inward, I just feel more isolated and different from many around me. That loneliness and isolation is suffocating and really paradoxical, because what I want is MORE vitality, joy, connection, and in general enabling LIFE to continue to be on this earth.
Self-immolation is not considered suicide? I Googled this and found many academic papers referring to it as suicide. Please share your thinking on this or any sources (not trying to call you out—this is the first time I've seen it not referred to as suicide and I'm curious). Thanks for all your hard work on this important issue.
I'm a 74-year-old Canadian male who addresses the ecological crisis from the theoretical perspective - see ecologicalsurvival.org. My "Youth Survival Manifesto" lays out a militant proposal for youth action. I believe that, from the psychological perspective, the key sentence is: "WE WILL NOT BE PASSIVELY SLAUGHTERED".
I think this is critical because, IMHO, the only way the young can mentally withstand the coming terrors is through DEFIANCE. They must stop accepting the ecocidal passivity of our social leaders, identify the real solutions, and then do WHATEVER IT TAKES to implement them. For my full analysis and strategy see the book, "Youth Ecological Revolution", which is available as a free PDF on my website.
Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by Gen Dread
Action is needed based on needs becoming a clear bright line.
What is needed seems quite high, and what is available seems much lower.
Between these points we have distress.
It is critical to increase what’s available.
If only we could lower what was needed.
How do we deal with the distress of our needs not being yet met? Our relationship to the distress - giving ourselves warmth and spaciousness - can allow for more creative solutions, relationally and politically.
Perhaps mental health can be part of the solution -
Dr. Ravi Chandra, is offering 3 hour and 8 week Mindful Self-Compassion workshops starting in September. There will be special focus for those in BIPOC, LGBTQ and other marginalized groups, but allies are welcome. These practical and evidence-based skills and experiences help ease discomfort, reduce burnout, and help with self-worth, depression, and anxiety. They can help facilitators sit with difficult emotions, experiences or situations. Use code TSURU for free registration for the 3 hour workshop on Saturday, September 10. Follow the registration links below, and if you have questions, contact Ravi at sflovedojo at icloud dot com. Quantities limited.
SF Love Dojo 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion class will be held on Saturdays on Zoom from 9:30 am – 12 noon PT beginning Saturday, September 24th. Register here. $475 early bird (before September 11)/$575 full fee/$350/sliding scale compassionate care.) https://www.sflovedojo.org/event/mindful-self-compassion-8-week-workshop-fall-2022/
Jul 15, 2022·edited Jul 15, 2022Liked by Gen Dread
In your book, you consider at length the problem of whether or not to have children in the face of the ongoing socio-economic-environmental collapse. Part of this consideration surely relates to the question of why such children should want to live, which ultimately confronts us - their parents and educators - with this question in a very direct and personal manner. To the extent that we answer it for ourselves, we are answering it for them. Conversely, to the extent that we have no answers ourselves, we have none to pass on. In this sense, the need for OUR dealing with the question "Why live?" would appear to be what is centrally articulated by suicidal ideation among youth.
Thanks for the courage to address this. Grief, anger, and anxiety are normal responses to the destruction and alienation we see in the world— and it affects all ages.
I also wish more media would show the positive movements/actions to restore the world, which are growing.
And, Britt, thanks for writing Generation Dread book, which I read eagerly to help make sense of the human tendency to judge “negative” emotions and push them away, rather than integrating them as part of a normal life.
I've come back to this post as where I live has been struggling with heatwaves and drought since this came out. I'm 20 years old and I have been experiencing climate anxiety for a while, having always cared about the planet, but its hit me hard lately as I've started to feel the affects of climate change personally.
Before this, though I craed about the climate, the issue sort of took a back burner for me. I've been affected by mental health issues since I was 9 years old; growing up with that pain has left me struggling beyond the illness itself. I am behind my peers developmentally and I developed the trauma mindset of not thinking about the future because I was convinced I would be dead soon. I thought I would die before adulthood, but here I am, and in the past 2 years I have worked hard and, despite everything, have gotten my life back. I have a much healthier mindset, have developed healthy coping mechanisms, have re-engage with old hobbies my illness took from me, and I'm starting to become known to others in my community as a young person who knows and cares a lot about the planet.
But this clarity brought an ability to fully appreciate the scale of this crisis, and as it starts to directly affect me, I feel a black cloud starting to envelop the ray of sunshine that I fought so hard to provide for myself. I have finally started feeling alive for the first time in a decade, but now it feels as though my life has been taken from me before it has begun. I cannot describe the anger and grief I feel at this. I am not suicidal, I want nothing more than to live, I greatly fear dying after having lived like that for so long, but like the person in the article, I do not know how to live in this world. I am in so much pain and the people around me are not there for me, as they bury their heads in the sand and pretend climate change isnt real I cant go to them for help. Those around me were also emotionally absent during my mental health struggles, so this aggravates old wounds that never fully healed. There is one person in my life I can talk to, but I cant put all that burden on them. If I look to the internet for support and stories of others struggle, I find videos and articles but right wing and religious extremists who spread lies. Sometimes I take comfort in the fact that too little is being done to stop climate change because at ,east these people, and the pil executives and politions that support them, will suffer. I hate to think such horrible thoughts, but hatred thrives in a world devoid of justice. I just want to finally live my life and make up for my lost years but my chance at that is being ripped away from me. Again, I do not want to die, but I wish I had never been born into such a cruel, corrupt world. I do so much to help the environment but I still feel so dreadful. I dont know how to live with this nightmare
Thank you for addressing this subject and for your book Generation Dread. I recently referenced your book in an application to be on the City of Toronto's Climate Advisory Group. I'm not sure I'm a strong candidate but I wanted to take the opportunity to mention your book to the City. Here's part of what I wrote: "I believe one of the main challenges relates to understanding the power of denial (psychic numbing, disavowal, multiple kinds of defenses) and how to cultivate climate-awareness and a culture of care through emotionally intelligent approaches. For example, Britt Wray, author of Generation Dread (2022) refers to understanding "eco-distress as super-fuel" for individual and societal transformation. I believe the other main challenge is with climate communication and that the City will need to use a multitude of creative approaches, engaging the arts community, in order to engage residents in this purposeful work of transforming our City. Even if I am not successful in becoming a Climate Advocacy Group member, I hope that the City will consider engaging climate-aware professionals, such as those trained in mindfulness, to help it cultivate a culture of care and also engage artists to assist it with climate communication."
If the powers that be in the world's most powerful countries don't care about millions of Black and Browns around the world suffering from food insecurity, starvation, slavery, being bombed over conflicting political ideologies, and millions in the US don't care that their tax dollars fund much of the suffering going on, how do you expect the rich and powerful, who continue to become more rich and more powerful still, to care about what happens to the climate and those already being severely impacted by it? Big money is being made by destroying the climate, and big money is what controls governments and the decisions they make about everything.
"I was enveloped by extreme, desperate sadness. My overwhelming sense of obligation left me feeling stuck. I couldn’t exist and do nothing about the humanitarian crises caused by climate catastrophe. But doing something felt pointless, draining, and isolating."
This paragraph resonated with me so very much. I have been an activist for over 30 years and I can relate to this feeling so well. On the one hand, once I became aware, I could not just sit by and do nothing. At the same time, I've found out over my years of activism that doing something has also felt pointless. I, too, have considered suicide due to my despair.
I have felt over the years like I'm watching a horrible never-ending car crash in slow motion, but I'm not able to do anything much to help. It's like the collision has already happened, and all I can do is watch. My hands are tied because I cannot do this alone. The wheels have already been set in motion, and there aren't enough others working to stop the inertia of this crash. Most just drive by the crash and carry on with their lives, even though this crash is already affecting every being on our planet.
I still have not yet come up any clear answers regarding this. I just know how very much this article resonated with me and the importance of making the connection between eco-anxiety and mental health, especially for those like the anonymous, brave young 17 year old who wrote to you.
The personal toll is enormous, but it is especially saddening to know how this issue is affecting current and future leaders and changemakers. We and our planet can't afford NOT to do what needs to be done to support and help these leaders succeed. For their sake, and also for the sake of a dying planet.
Thank you for this article and helping to raise awareness of the issues faced by those with boots on the ground. With awareness we can help create change and support necessary for these dedicated leaders.
I was really impressed with the insight and awareness that the 17 year old letter writer brought to bear in describing her experience and I hope she continues to write going forward. I don't feel like this valuable point-of-view is often heard (besides Greta Thunberg), and I think us 'grown-ups' need to hear how it feels to be a sensitive adolescent deeply involved with this ongoing existential climate threat.
Many of the 40-somethings I know are busy navigating day jobs that become time and energy drains- leaving ongoing emotions about climate change compartmentalized in a separate mental bin somewhere to the side or back of the psyche. I think more adults need to learn how to be honest about what they are shoving to the side and how much they are not presenting as part of "the "whole" me" (as the writer commented about what her friends saw). There needs to be more willingness to see how climate distress is thrumming along and blending in with other sources of stress & distress in our individual lives.
We also need to take this seriously when it comes to those of us who have actively been trying to do something about climate and the impacts. I came to public health from an environmental activism background, and I draw on a deep well of my own climate trauma to fuel my professional duties and passion, but I sometimes just have to shut it all off - and then I feel guilty because of the pervasive YOU CAN ALWAYS DO MORE. I'm tired of always do more. We need to stop this. We need more people doing. But we need to be kind to ourselves and each other about our limits of capacity to bear more trauma in the service of the fight.
This is so moving and seriously important. One of the thoughts I am having is how hard it is to show up with all your eco-grief emotions around other people. I find people are put off by me, or at the very least just don't know what to say, in the face of my complex and often overwhelming emotions around climate change/biodiversity loss. It's just not on their minds, and they resort to typical mechanisms - soothing, advice giving, encouraging me to see the bright side, positing that "oh don't worry, new species will evolve". I treasure the few relationships I have where I can get dark and just....hold holds with someone there, metaphorically. Not run away to greener pastures. These are rare and vital meetings of the heart for me, because when I hide my feelings and turn inward, I just feel more isolated and different from many around me. That loneliness and isolation is suffocating and really paradoxical, because what I want is MORE vitality, joy, connection, and in general enabling LIFE to continue to be on this earth.
Self-immolation is not considered suicide? I Googled this and found many academic papers referring to it as suicide. Please share your thinking on this or any sources (not trying to call you out—this is the first time I've seen it not referred to as suicide and I'm curious). Thanks for all your hard work on this important issue.
I'm a 74-year-old Canadian male who addresses the ecological crisis from the theoretical perspective - see ecologicalsurvival.org. My "Youth Survival Manifesto" lays out a militant proposal for youth action. I believe that, from the psychological perspective, the key sentence is: "WE WILL NOT BE PASSIVELY SLAUGHTERED".
I think this is critical because, IMHO, the only way the young can mentally withstand the coming terrors is through DEFIANCE. They must stop accepting the ecocidal passivity of our social leaders, identify the real solutions, and then do WHATEVER IT TAKES to implement them. For my full analysis and strategy see the book, "Youth Ecological Revolution", which is available as a free PDF on my website.
Action is needed based on needs becoming a clear bright line.
What is needed seems quite high, and what is available seems much lower.
Between these points we have distress.
It is critical to increase what’s available.
If only we could lower what was needed.
How do we deal with the distress of our needs not being yet met? Our relationship to the distress - giving ourselves warmth and spaciousness - can allow for more creative solutions, relationally and politically.
Perhaps mental health can be part of the solution -
Dr. Ravi Chandra, is offering 3 hour and 8 week Mindful Self-Compassion workshops starting in September. There will be special focus for those in BIPOC, LGBTQ and other marginalized groups, but allies are welcome. These practical and evidence-based skills and experiences help ease discomfort, reduce burnout, and help with self-worth, depression, and anxiety. They can help facilitators sit with difficult emotions, experiences or situations. Use code TSURU for free registration for the 3 hour workshop on Saturday, September 10. Follow the registration links below, and if you have questions, contact Ravi at sflovedojo at icloud dot com. Quantities limited.
SF Love Dojo 3-hour Mindful Self-Compassion workshop will be held on Zoom on Saturday, September 10 from 10 am – 1 pm PT. Register here. $95. Inquire for sliding scale option. https://www.sflovedojo.org/event/mindful-self-compassion-3-hour-workshop-fall-2022/
SF Love Dojo 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion class will be held on Saturdays on Zoom from 9:30 am – 12 noon PT beginning Saturday, September 24th. Register here. $475 early bird (before September 11)/$575 full fee/$350/sliding scale compassionate care.) https://www.sflovedojo.org/event/mindful-self-compassion-8-week-workshop-fall-2022/
In your book, you consider at length the problem of whether or not to have children in the face of the ongoing socio-economic-environmental collapse. Part of this consideration surely relates to the question of why such children should want to live, which ultimately confronts us - their parents and educators - with this question in a very direct and personal manner. To the extent that we answer it for ourselves, we are answering it for them. Conversely, to the extent that we have no answers ourselves, we have none to pass on. In this sense, the need for OUR dealing with the question "Why live?" would appear to be what is centrally articulated by suicidal ideation among youth.
Thanks for the courage to address this. Grief, anger, and anxiety are normal responses to the destruction and alienation we see in the world— and it affects all ages.
I also wish more media would show the positive movements/actions to restore the world, which are growing.
And, Britt, thanks for writing Generation Dread book, which I read eagerly to help make sense of the human tendency to judge “negative” emotions and push them away, rather than integrating them as part of a normal life.
I've come back to this post as where I live has been struggling with heatwaves and drought since this came out. I'm 20 years old and I have been experiencing climate anxiety for a while, having always cared about the planet, but its hit me hard lately as I've started to feel the affects of climate change personally.
Before this, though I craed about the climate, the issue sort of took a back burner for me. I've been affected by mental health issues since I was 9 years old; growing up with that pain has left me struggling beyond the illness itself. I am behind my peers developmentally and I developed the trauma mindset of not thinking about the future because I was convinced I would be dead soon. I thought I would die before adulthood, but here I am, and in the past 2 years I have worked hard and, despite everything, have gotten my life back. I have a much healthier mindset, have developed healthy coping mechanisms, have re-engage with old hobbies my illness took from me, and I'm starting to become known to others in my community as a young person who knows and cares a lot about the planet.
But this clarity brought an ability to fully appreciate the scale of this crisis, and as it starts to directly affect me, I feel a black cloud starting to envelop the ray of sunshine that I fought so hard to provide for myself. I have finally started feeling alive for the first time in a decade, but now it feels as though my life has been taken from me before it has begun. I cannot describe the anger and grief I feel at this. I am not suicidal, I want nothing more than to live, I greatly fear dying after having lived like that for so long, but like the person in the article, I do not know how to live in this world. I am in so much pain and the people around me are not there for me, as they bury their heads in the sand and pretend climate change isnt real I cant go to them for help. Those around me were also emotionally absent during my mental health struggles, so this aggravates old wounds that never fully healed. There is one person in my life I can talk to, but I cant put all that burden on them. If I look to the internet for support and stories of others struggle, I find videos and articles but right wing and religious extremists who spread lies. Sometimes I take comfort in the fact that too little is being done to stop climate change because at ,east these people, and the pil executives and politions that support them, will suffer. I hate to think such horrible thoughts, but hatred thrives in a world devoid of justice. I just want to finally live my life and make up for my lost years but my chance at that is being ripped away from me. Again, I do not want to die, but I wish I had never been born into such a cruel, corrupt world. I do so much to help the environment but I still feel so dreadful. I dont know how to live with this nightmare
A potential resting area for climate activists:
https://join.slack.com/t/restingarea-climate/shared_invite/zt-1e6vfbmh2-z1btsuKylHHse5FPDFrQWw
This work surely could be a help for some.
https://twitter.com/apapa0001
https://reasons4climatehope.info
Thank you for addressing this subject and for your book Generation Dread. I recently referenced your book in an application to be on the City of Toronto's Climate Advisory Group. I'm not sure I'm a strong candidate but I wanted to take the opportunity to mention your book to the City. Here's part of what I wrote: "I believe one of the main challenges relates to understanding the power of denial (psychic numbing, disavowal, multiple kinds of defenses) and how to cultivate climate-awareness and a culture of care through emotionally intelligent approaches. For example, Britt Wray, author of Generation Dread (2022) refers to understanding "eco-distress as super-fuel" for individual and societal transformation. I believe the other main challenge is with climate communication and that the City will need to use a multitude of creative approaches, engaging the arts community, in order to engage residents in this purposeful work of transforming our City. Even if I am not successful in becoming a Climate Advocacy Group member, I hope that the City will consider engaging climate-aware professionals, such as those trained in mindfulness, to help it cultivate a culture of care and also engage artists to assist it with climate communication."
If the powers that be in the world's most powerful countries don't care about millions of Black and Browns around the world suffering from food insecurity, starvation, slavery, being bombed over conflicting political ideologies, and millions in the US don't care that their tax dollars fund much of the suffering going on, how do you expect the rich and powerful, who continue to become more rich and more powerful still, to care about what happens to the climate and those already being severely impacted by it? Big money is being made by destroying the climate, and big money is what controls governments and the decisions they make about everything.