Activities Which Can Help Us Deal With Climate Anxiety
Lake Powhatan Swimming Beach, Asheville, North Carolina
Recently, it has been brought to my attention that I’m getting older. [Well, big DUH there – as if any of us is getting younger!] One of the things that growing older often brings is more wisdom. Human beings have an awesome sense of cleverness, but we frequently lack wisdom or the foresight to see what kinds of consequences might result from actions we take today.
Most people even 50 years ago would have never thought about the consequences of thawing permafrost and melting glaciers and ice patches. There are both positive effects and negative effects. I have brought up the predicaments caused by ecological overshoot and climate change, but a new article from The New York Times points out how ancient wars and other historical secrets and long-extinct animals are emerging from these areas of permafrost and ice, adding to our knowledge and occasionally completely rearranging history as a result of these finds.
Meanwhile, the ongoing specter of the effects of ecological overshoot (and climate change in most people’s minds) brings to light the lack of discussion among society today, as if most people are afraid to look at reality. Caitlin Johnstone brings to light this phenomenon, quote:
“The way we’re just sitting around going about our lives like this isn’t happening reminds me of that experiment where participants sit in a waiting room that’s filling up with smoke without knowing that the experiment is already underway. If the participants are alone they’ll generally take action to do something about the problem, but if they’re in the waiting room with other people who are secretly in on the experiment and have been told to ignore the smoke, the participant will also ignore it…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
