Find A Way To Productively Move Through Climate Change Fears And Paralysis.

[vmax]

I came across this article this morning that is focused on climate psychology. It really hit home how much this issue impacts our thinking, feelings and behavior. I have studied climate change so mush and become very aware of what our future, our children's future will be like to the point of being depressed at times. At the least, there's a sadness that I feel because I know that life as we knew it will is gone forever. Even if we, as a planet, get on top of this now, the repercussions of our destruction will take earth and nature 2-300 years for us to get back to where we are now. The damage is already done. It's depressing to wrap your head around that. Many people that I know simply do not want to think or talk about it. Understandably. In what feels like a futile effort to raise awareness, I've tried to point out that what we have experienced in the last 18 months is a small taste of what's to come. It will leave you depressed or at least sad the more that you think about it. I can't function for long in that state of mind. 

Where I'm going with this is that awareness, in your innermost self, is needed to realize that there is a very real problem and it's not going to go away by ignoring it. I've been in over my head in many real life situations and nothing changed those situations or how I felt inside until I got into action. Once I took constructive action on creating a solution than I began to feel better and the situation began to change. I can't change the world yet I can change how I think, behave and react. I am one of 7,577,130,400 people on this planet. A grain of sand. I want to do my part to help minimize the impact of the extinction event. When I focus or dream about all of us getting into the solution I begin to feel hope. I begin to feel better. Happier.

Sometimes, many times, things have to fall apart to be put back better. that's the nature of change. I can also see what going green will do for the new lifestyles that are to come. It's a nice vision. New and better science and choices.  Healthy lifestyles. Healthy living. People united for this new life. Maybe we will realize that all of us are connected and that what I do to you, I do to me. 

That would be a nice place to end up.

Climate change is radicalizing young people — here's what that means and how to combat despair (msn.com)

Quote

 The science is out there on what happens with young people if they think that their future is already written for them, and that is not good. That is not an option for me.

The future of climate communication, the future of climate psychology has to simply be the "both-and" orientation. It's just going to have to be, because we're all going to learn at some point that living in doom and gloom narratives is very ineffective, and it makes us literally want to kill ourselves. This is very scary. We've gone from nobody caring enough about climate change to people caring so much that they're nihilistic. We cranked up the urgency and then we've like overshot the mark.

It's not that urgency is a bad thing. Urgency has a rhetorical situation and purpose and audience that is very effective and needs to happen. And we need to keep using urgency where appropriate. So I am not rejecting urgency outright. But for people who do really care a lot, it is not a productive thing.

We are going to be in this for a while....Climate change is radicalizing young people — here's what that means and how to combat despair (msn.com)

Quote

We need to be clear-eyed about it. I'm not suggesting that we block out everything that we can't control. Taking in of all this information through the news, social media, all the ways that we have a 24-7 news stream, in general, that negativity bias of media and negativity bias in our psychologies and in our brains does not equate to reality. And it does equate to serious depression and anxiety.

We can be aware of how bad things are, and also how good things are. We can counterbalance the overwhelming negativity of news and our own biases around negativity by consuming and actively seeking out things that are positive. And that's not about being in denial or naive. That is about making sure we are consuming, that we're exposed to reality, which is not all bad.

Edited August 30, 2021 by vmax

[papasmurfbell]

With so many unvaxed ppl keeling over it will be easier to push climat policy since they will be running low on stupid voters.

[GrubberRaven]

1 hour ago, papasmurfbell said:

With so many unvaxed ppl keeling over it will be easier to push climat policy since they will be running low on stupid voters.

Truest thing you've ever said...

[vmax]

Woke up this morning thinking that people over the ages with their energy, innovation, science and industry created this situation. Those same qualities exist in us today and they can bring about the solution.

[deeshopper]

On 8/30/2021 at 1:36 PM, GrubberRaven said:

Truest thing you've ever said...

lol.