This is part of a series about raising awareness of mental illness. This episode focuses specifically on the human reaction to climate change. I was surprised to hear 80% of people worry about it, but not so surprised to hear how most of us don’t know what to do. Having experienced anxiety, I know it is natural, but can get out of proportion. Like many things, it’s a problem when you aren’t sleeping, or can’t focus, or it intrudes on everything you are thinking about. One solution discussed is a change (and this might be a return) to more communally based awareness of how we, as a planet oriented species, handle problems that are too big for us as individuals.
If we are angry about global warming, how do we channel that into doing? If we recognize that it was caused by all of us, can we also recognize it can be solved by all of us? Psychologists who have studied climate and our relationship to nature are included and new diagnoses like “climate anxiety” are being developed, along with solutions like “meaning-focused coping.”
