03 Jul Climate Anxiety: People Are Kind of Freaking Out

Let’s not front, people are quietly starting to lose their sh-t. And I don’t blame them, the news ain’t great. The earth is getting hotter by the day, oceans warming with record temperatures, polar ice caps melting, and to top it off, everything is on fire. All valid reasons to be freaking the f-k out over. So while people may be calling this fear inducing effect “climate anxiety”, I call it an unwillingness to face reality. We f-d our planet up.

3 Perspectives

You have 3 types of people when it comes to human response to climate change. The first are the deniers; either thinking climate change is a hoax or in full fledged denial about the whole situation because they can’t handle it emotionally. The next are the “collapse aware” and what people would call “Doomers”. The people who can’t stop talking about how we are all screwed while at your kid’s backyard birthday celebration. The last group are the “apathetic accepters”. Their view is that it doesn’t matter or that they can’t do anything about it so they just won’t look at it. They can be found online using anything as a distraction (Hi Social Media) to not have to look at what’s happening.

Anxiety Is Rooted In Fear

Each of these groups all have the same thing in common that drives their reactions and it’s the same thing that is the cause of “climate anxiety”. That thing is fear. Fear that our world is changing and we won’t be able to survive. Fear that if others don’t acknowledge what is happening then we’re all doomed. Fear that we don’t have control of our well being and future. All anxiety is rooted in fear as it is simply a fear about the future or a future outcome. And with our future on this planet being unsure, it makes sense to be feeling this fear and anxiety.

Acceptance & Adaptation Is The Way

I’m not going to sugar coat it; things are messed up. things are changing and we have little to no control over them. But there is a way forward, and the concept is as old as we’ve been around. It is the premise of the Serenity Prayer that provides millions peace. The solution my friends is acceptance. Acceptance of the abuse that we put our planet through by robbing it for all it has, acceptance that those actions have consequences, and acceptance that we can do little about it to avoid those consequences. Acceptance that our way of life is going to change and that we have to find new meaning than our previously defined meaning.

We’re talking adaptation, and it is the unspoken necessary rule of nature in order to survive. If you’re thinking that our world is going to stay the same with no consequences in the form of a warming planet, disrupted food chains, and increased weather emergencies, I’d say you’re smoking something crack-like my friend. I’d also say you’re arrogant if you think we can fully control such things. We must adapt to this new reality as every single generation of humans before us had to. We may need to now live without such luxuries in order to obtain the necessities. The world has changed and so should we.

How To Feel Better

So how does all this make you feel better? It doesn’t, that’s kind of the point. People are looking to feel better about our situation more than they are looking to improve it. Fear is a natural human emotion; don’t run from it, accept it and overcome it. I think that’s really what we need right now. More focus on being able to face this reality and still move forward with courage. Feeling terrified all day and freaking out helps no one, especially your own self.

Focus on what you can do, even if that’s just trying to be more helpful in your community (that always pays dividends). Educate yourself (from reputable accurate news sources for God’s sake). Contribute to helping restore our planet; even if it doesn’t reverse the climate damage we’ve done, do it because it’s the right thing to do that should have been done a long time ago. Learn to appreciate what you have and love your loved ones as they should be loved everyday that they breathe. Doing nothing, going along business as usual, or ignoring the situation is just about the worst things you can do in a time when action is needed. That action doesn’t need to solve everything at once, but it damn well better solve something and better someone’s life.

Hard Pill To Swallow

I know this one was full of hard truths, psychological pills that are almost too big to swallow, and terrifying calamities to face; but it is your responsibility as a human adult to face them. They aren’t going to magically go away. Your ability to survive is dictated by your willingness to meet challenge with courage and do what needs to be done to ensure the future. Only selfish people are so shortsighted to only care constantly about their wants in the moment even if it comes at the expense of everyone else’s needs. Remember, having fear about our situation is normal, how you meet and respond to that fear is what dictates how well you weather the storm moving forward. Stand tall my friends.

The purpose of this GI SAID IT blog is simple, to provide perspective. GI delivers this unique perspective in a style that is unapologetically honest, straight to the point, and at times a bit brutal. GI SAID IT: Brutally honest, no BS. Click for more GI SAID IT shows and articles.