Iām an environmental science student with chronic depression and anxiety. I swear the regular, non mentally ill people are often handling this worse than I am - and I think thatās because they donāt know as much about how climate change works and whatās being done to help make it less bad.
Generally, the more you know about something the less scary it is. My evrn professors know weāre all terrified about the future, and they all are too - this is a problem our curriculum is being built to address. You know what we do about it?
We focus on the solutions.
We imagine the ways the future could be better than the one weāre currently staring down the barrel of. And we look at the ways people are trying to get there, and how we can contribute to that.
And I know itās so fucking hard to imagine solutions, to imagine a future that isnāt terrifying, when the present looks like this. Environmental studies experts know that too, thereās a lot of discussion in this field of how we can help people begin to imagine these things, because some people believe (and I agree) that the first step to building a better future is imagining one. And a lot of people are so scared, that imagination is beyond their reach. So if you canāt imagine a good future, read about one. Watch a movie about one. Look at a painting about one. There are tons of writers whose work is all about this exact problem. Braiding Sweetgrass is a book that completely changed my life. Thereās a really great podcast called How To Save A Planet that I canāt recommend enough if climate change is giving you major anxiety. Heck, watch Star Trek or any other kind of positive, hopeful depiction of the future you can get your hands on - it may not be as environment-focused or grounded in our present reality as some of the things created by environmental experts, but it is a hell of a lot more accessible. Find something that depicts a good future and watch/read/whatever it until it seeps into your soul.
We also know that climate change isnāt something weāre going to stop. Itās something weāre going to mitigate, soften the blow, but we know climate change is already here. I think thatās called radical acceptance, and Iām pretty sure some types of therapy use it, but my memory for that is a bit rusty. We say, okay, climate change is happening. How do we make it less dangerous? How do we adapt to these changes?
So, if youāre overwhelmed by the problems weāre facing, one option is to learn about how exactly they work, how people are trying to solve or mitigate them, and how you can be even a tiny, miniscule part of that solution. Try to imagine a good future and how we might get there, and if you canāt, find and experience art by people who can. And accept that you canāt fix the big problems yourself. If they get fixed, itās gonna be because millions of people each decided to be one tiny part of the solution.
I repeat: I have chronic anxiety and depression. I study environmental problems, and in a couple years Iām gonna have a degree in this. I am scared of many things, but climate change really isnāt one of them anymore. I do think part of that is whatās called exposure therapy: I have been around this idea so much my brain is used to it now. That sounds like apathy, but itās not. I have so much hope for all the incredible, brilliant, passionate people who are trying to make our future safer and better. I hope I can become one of them someday.
Further recommended resources for people with climate anxiety (which is an actual term and recognized Thing That Exists):
A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety (what it sounds like)
The documentary 2040 (made by a guy worried about what his daughterās future might look like, so he started researching what the world could look like in 2040, if we implemented a bunch of climate change solutions right now using the technology we already have. Itās very hopeful, and a bit mind-blowing.)
Project Drawdown (these people did all the math about exactly what needs to happen to keep global temperature change within certain limits. Seriously, All The Math. The documentary 2040 is based on this project. They also have some lovely introductory videos.)
Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai (who was a total badass, by the way. She founded the Greenbelt Movement to fight deforestation in Nigeria, and then it spread to lots of nearby countries. If you need a story about one person who did something hugely important against absolutely terrifying odds, read this book.)
