Eco-anxiety is an increasing social cost of climate change. A lot of people are feeling it these days. The Maclean’s series on climate change is perhaps the most recent and comprehensive mainstream Canadian news coverage of the environmental crisis we are in. However, they are not the only publication covering it. There is a daily flow of information, from a wide range of diverse sources. It’s not just environment writers covering the beat, it’s increasingly become part of everyone’s beat.
The Maclean’s articles thoroughly canvass global warming from an array of different angles. Some of it will certainly fuel anxious feelings about the future of our species and our planet. However, fear is not the only driver of action. For many it’s the fear that is causing paralysis.
Alanna Mitchell is the author of a compelling part of the series called “Wait! There’s good news.” It’s just that, the good news from the scientists, academics and activists who are working on addressing global warming. Jordan Health-Rawlings interviewed Mitchell on the July 11, 2019 episode of The Big Story Podcast called “What does the world look like after we solve climate change?”
Admittedly, it’s an odd angle to view climate change from. Yet, Mitchell quotes Neil Jennings, from the Grantham Institute, “Rather than talking about what we may have to give up, it’s a focus on what we’ll actually gain.” This shift in perspective is inspiring. It’s an unsustainable approach to continue to only count the benefits of something while ignoring the costs, just as it is not psychologically healthy to only fear a future devastated world and not have a vision of what the world looks like when we address global warming.
I highly recommend the Maclean’s articles but The Big Story Podcast is a great place to start.
Image by Jody Davis from Pixabay
Great balance in looking at costs and benefits.
If we get stuck in the fear we will pay the costs in social anxiety
My eight year old wakes up at night because he sees the adults driving past him not seeming to care about the future -burning gasoline as if it is no problem.
I work hard to have him see that we can become one tribe and work together to create the world we want. We can’t argue about gas vs electric, we need to work together to see what we can build for our children.
What scocial/political mechanisms do we have to put into place to shift from me to we where the we is our WHOLE world?
Hint:
Victor Borgia said “the shortest distance between to people is laughter”