“This is a computer science major,” Petersen Boring said.
Petersen Boring, an associate professor of history, religious studies, women & gender studies at Willamette University in Oregon, has been teaching about climate change for a little over a decade. In that short time, she has watched her students’ fear, grief, stress and anxiety grow.
“Back in 2007, it was the mouse in the room; then, it became the elephant in the room. By 2016, those concerns and fears began to flood over,” Petersen Boring said.
There’s even a growing number of organizations of people promising not to have children “due to the severity of the ecological crisis and the current inaction of governing forces in the face if this existential threat,” as a group called BirthStrike puts it.
Who can blame them? This year’s climate change headlines are depressing on a good day, terrifying at worst:
“With the Trump election, the change in my students, the sense of grief and fear and paralysis in the room, became palpable,” Petersen Boring said.
“The psychological responses to climate change such as conflict avoidance, fatalism, fear, helplessness and resignation are growing,” said Clayton, a psychology professor at the College of Wooster. “These responses are keeping us, and our nation, from properly addressing the core causes of and solutions for our changing climate and from building and supporting psychological resiliency.”
It makes sense and there is a “straightforward therapeutic response to this,” Clayton said.
People who are anxious tend to be avoidant, or they shut down and don’t engage. To ease this feeling of anxiety, turn it around. “Instead of focusing on the fear, you should instead focus on what you want to do,” Swim said.
“If you get closer and closer to a solution, you can feel more pride and there is hope.”
“We can’t just all curl up in a ball and wait for the end of the world,” Clayton said.
If you don’t like to protest, find other groups that raise awareness or work to fight climate change. Join an urban cleanup or participate in a walk or ride focused on climate change. Swim is about to help lead Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light‘s 200 mile bike ride through Pennsylvania to Washington, DC. Many in the group will lobby congress at the end of the ride, but all along the five day trip they will stop to talk to people all along the way at faith communities, at a homeless shelter, and a variety of other locations to talk about climate change. That action raises awareness, but just being involved in something makes you aware of efforts you may not otherwise know about.
Look for smaller local policy initiatives. You can encourage your local leaders to back programs like setting goals to cut your city’s emissions or by encouraging your city to purchase more electric vehicles and alternative fuel busses. Advocate for more green space and parks in your neighborhood.
Sign up for a home energy visit. Like the one they have in Boston to find out how you can lower your own carbon emissions. Or do you own energy audit to figure out areas where you are losing energy, or where your home could be more efficient.
Adopt a plant-based diet. It’s good for the environment and can cut greenhouse gas emissions. If you can’t give up your burger, try meatless Mondays.
Cut down your carbon emissions. Walk or bike to work instead of driving.
Reuse what you can. Bring reusable bags to the grocery store to cut down on plastic, bring a reusable mug to your favorite coffee shop to reduce the number of single-use plastic in your day. Bring silverware you can wash to work, rather than make repeated trips to the plastic utensil drawer.
And by all means, stay informed, Clayton said. Don’t avoid climate change stories, but don’t wallow in misery, either. “Staying informed is important because it makes it more concrete and less the scary monster under the bed,” Clayton said. “A monster under the bed is scary because you don’t look at it; finding out about things makes them more manageable.”
For Petersen Boring, climate anxiety has changed what she teaches. She used to spend a week of class on sources of hope and talking about students’ grief. Now, she’s developed two classes to address students’ emotional needs, including one that focuses on the inner life of an activist.
Learning from activist movements like women’s suffrage and civil rights, she tells students that they need to nurture their inner lives. To stay engaged, to keep buoyant and joyful, she says, one must acknowledge pain and loss and danger and keep the core values of courage, flexibility, resilience and compassion.
“So many adults tell young people that ‘this is your problem,’ but I avoid that approach,” she said. She doesn’t want fear to paralyze them.
“Instead, I tell them this is our collective work to do.”
Source : Nbcnewyork