Climate Change’s Mental Health Crisis is a lot like Sea Level Rise, but There’s Hope

The author’s daughter finds a new friend at the Climate March in Toronto, September 2019, both of them joining Greta in turning a mocking comment from the US President into an ironic cry for help.

BY LOWELL BLISS

DIRECTOR EDEN VIGIL INSTITUTE FOR ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP & THE ENVIRONMENT 

It’s December 2018 at the COP24 climate summit in Katowice, Poland, and I am as depressed as I have ever been. It didn’t help that I had an attack of kidney stones during my layover in Brussels. It didn’t help that my normal set of colleagues at these climate summits weren’t attending this one. I was alone. I was alone on a mattress on the floor of my price-gouging AirBnb, touk and gloves on to try and ward off the cold. And then there was the summit itself. Poland was hosting COP24 in their coal-mining region, promoting “just transition” seemingly as a way to keep promoting the fossil fuel itself. When the climate march rolled around on the Saturday after the first week, phalanxes of Polish police in riot gear were out in full force. COP24 is generally considered a “failed” COP, precisely at the time when the Paris Agreement needed to shift into a higher gear.

One afternoon in Katowice, I wandered into Greenpeace’s Climate Hub, an off-site space that Greenpeace used to sponsor as a counterpoise to the official COP proceedings. I was looking for a warm cup of coffee, a little hospitality, and perhaps some camaraderie and commiseration. Near the entrance was a signboard entitled “#Reasons to Hope,” where people could post notes. One of the first Post-its I saw said: “I’ve lost hope. I rage. And I try to make each day count.” On the stage, an old British scientist in a woolen jumper was in the middle of his presentation. He was a self-described “realist” who kept apologizing for having “to tell the truth” about the world that he would soon be leaving, but that the rest of us would have to endure. Here’s an example of one of his slides:

Why activists have little effect
-They cannot articulate alternatives
-They do not control the levers of power & ‘manufactured consent’
-There is no ‘re-set button’ for transition
-Human addictive appetite fed by the Machine World (culture of consumption)
-Human agency too weak to shift structures & systems of dominance (inertia)

And a good day to you too, sir! But when he was finished, the announcement was made from the mic: “Stick around! We are going to arrange some chairs up here on the stage and invite you back to a workshop entitled ‘Dealing with the Difficult Emotions of Climate Change.’” Bingo! This is what I needed to hear! The workshop was led by a humble Polish educator who gathered us in a circle, paired us off with others, and then started us out with a simple question: “How would you complete this sentence: when I think about climate change, I feel. . . ?” I was paired off with a young British activist whom I am convinced has likely never shed a tear since her 10th birthday, but by the time our facilitator had asked her second question, my partner had discovered her own emotional depths. “When I think about my work on climate action, I feel. . .”

If you fast forward two COPs (and include the year postponed by the pandemic), you land in 2021 where coinciding with the Youth meetings held in Italy before COP26 in Glasgow, the medical journal Lancet releases a study entitled “Young People’s Voices on Climate Anxiety, Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon.” The authors from the University of Bath had surveyed 10,000 youth (ages 16-25) in ten countries. Here’s what they published in their abstract:

Findings: Respondents across all countries were worried about climate change (59% were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried). More than 50% reported each of the following emotions: sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty. More than 45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning, and many reported a high number of negative thoughts about climate change (eg, 75% said that they think the future is frightening and 83% said that they think people have failed to take care of the planet). Respondents rated governmental responses to climate change negatively and reported greater feelings of betrayal than of reassurance. Climate anxiety and distress were correlated with perceived inadequate government response and associated feelings of betrayal.

Very or extremely worried. Sad. Anxious. Angry. Powerless. Helpless. Guilty. Negative thoughts. Feels of betrayal. Climate anxiety. Distress. I am way older than 25 and I have felt many of these same emotions. I suspect you have too. The abbreviating language of the abstract—i.e. “over 50% felt. . .”-- masks the severity of the mental health crisis when, actually, it was 68% who reported feeling sad, 68% afraid, 63% anxious.

I came away from that Greenpeace workshop in Poland with one thought: “WHY isn’t the Church conducting these sort of seminars?” I came away from reading the Lancet study with one thought: “I love these kids so much, it is breaking my heart!”

My wife, Robynn Bliss, is a Spiritual Director trained in the Contemplative-Evocative approach of Spiritual Direction. In October of last year, I teamed up with her to offer our first ever webinar: “Processing the Difficult Emotions of Climate Change.” Robynn calls it a two-and-a-half hour “webinar that feels like a retreat.”

Despair, anger, grief, loneliness-- whatever you are feeling about the climate crisis or about your progress in mobilizing others for action--is natural, appropriate, and part of being created in the image of a God who loves you and all of creation.

Lowell and Robynn invite you into a conversation about these painful realities. They believe that it is possible to process difficult emotions and find space (and grace) to move forward with greater freedom and hope.

Six dear people participated in our prototype and now we hope to offer it quarterly during the year, beginning on Saturday, February 4, 10AM-12:30 PDT. We’ll offer it on different days and with different timings in order to accommodate different global time zones and life situations. Let me ask you a question: “How would you complete this sentence: when I think about climate change, I feel. . . ?” Maybe you or someone you know could benefit from this webinar. Please know that you are welcome to join us, and please extend the invitation to others. Registration is US$39, but we have a “pay what you can” option as well.

And let me also ask a question to my fellow climate activists: is it possible that our mobilization has been stymied because we have forgotten our Walter Brueggemann and his core teaching in The Prophetic Imagination? The prophets, Brueggemann teaches us, were not primarily preachers nor prognosticators; they were poets. They helped give voice to Israel’s grief and they helped Israel imagine a hopeful future. When a human being encounters a harsh reality (like Israel faced in the impending exile), it is the most natural thing in the world for him or her to choose denialism. Pounding that person with more “truth”—like that old British scientist did at Katowice-- can, as studies show, only cause that person to double down on their denial. Grief, however, can help dissipate denial. Sometimes all a climate denier needs is a chance to process his or her fears and potential losses.

And what about our colleagues, so many on the verge of burn-out? Or the youth who are part of our movements or organizations? Our “webinars that feel like retreats” are meant to be additionally a call to mobilization. We need to mobilize climate leaders and mental health professionals and Spiritual Directors for this awful, awful mental health crisis.How is responding to this crisis not as much a part of climate adaptation as building sea walls or relocating vulnerable populations? In the next few years, Robynn and I hope to see many climate activists paired off with trained professionals for the sake of proliferating such webinars and workshops. Are you or someone you know interested in this type of work? Come get a taste of it on February 4 and let’s talk afterwards.