Witnessing the calamities that are laying our world to waste can be heartbreaking and emotionally draining. It will take its toll on us and we will find ourselves not having enough energy and strength to take on the bigger issues we are facing like climate change.
But when the source of stress is the thing that bogs us down and keeps us discouraged, how then can we cope and find solutions to our problems? One way is to turn our emotional energy into a source of power.
Like a wind turbine taking in all of the wind—whether it passed over a manured field or a lavender meadow—all of these negative and positive emotions can be harnessed by our minds and expressed in positive, effective ways that help us take on climate conflict from a position of inner strength.
Even denial can be harnessed, if we take a little time to understand it with a compassionate lens.
We’ve come to know denial at its worst, the passive resignation we experience as wildfires spread and species disappear. Denial is also a powerful coping mechanism for releasing ourselves from the stress that comes with anger, grief, or overwhelm, with feeling like the problem is just too big. However, as clinical psychologist at Columbia University Wendy Greenspun is careful to point out, “the very thing that protects us also prevents us from taking action.”
She suggests that to break down our defense mechanism, we should connect with others and take on self-care strategies.
(Image credit: Mika Baumeister/Unsplash)
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I see your points, Patty. It's a tough subject - do you have any suggestions on how to be more conscious about the environment?
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I don't wish to belittle the subject or these well-meaning people. But they are about as much use for the environment as all those 'celebrities' who went off to the Google jolly in the Mediterranean in 140 private jets and dozens of mega yachts to talk climate change last month. Or St. Greta of Thunberg with her publicity stunt trip across The Atlantic to do the same. Obviously she can’t use a plane, because she’ll be called a hypocrite. And she’s done just that, by making the trip on a 60-foot racing yacht. Naturally, this has made all her disciples very happy, but what’s the message? That the half a million people who fly every day from Europe to America should use a £15m yacht instead? And take four weeks to do it? It gets worse, because if you examine the yacht she’s using, it’s not as green as you might imagine. First of all, it is equipped with a diesel engine. And second, it’s made mostly from carbon fibre, which cannot be recycled effectively, and which uses 14 times more energy to produce than steel. Which can be recycled very easily indeed. What St. G of T is doing, then, is precisely the opposite of what she is setting out to achieve. And so, I fear are those who think emotional energy can power the world.
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