We mustn’t lose our sense of self
You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit scared right now. There’s a lot going on in the world, and it’s having an effect on many of us. The pandemic aside, the “code red for humanity” report released by the UN this week put the wind up us all. Though, we might finally see some bold action from our political and business leaders on the climate front.
The global warming narrative is hardly new. I remember learning about melting Arctic ice sheets and the imminent displacement of polar bears as a kid in the 90s. What makes it all the more confronting now, is that collectively we’ve failed to heed those early warnings. Of course, there are many factors involved, and short-term election cycles (along with their vested interests and associated popularity contests) don’t really help much with grounded forward-thinking, and long-term intergenerational planning.
However, some people (ordinary folk like you and me) are becoming so overwhelmed with all of the environmental doomsday-isms. Our nervous systems are completely jacked up with fear, that it’s frightening. So much so, that eco-stress is having a significant impact on people’s mental health. As a result, a whole new type of therapy related to climate change anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder is emerging — climate-informed counselling.
Therapists are struggling to deal with the dialogue and are grappling with the best ways to support clients experiencing climate anxiety. A lot of the concern comes from parents, who fear for their children and grandchildren’s future.
But in the bizarre high-stakes game of polarity that exists in our society, we’ve got the world’s tech, travel and commerce billionaires advocating for the colonisation of lifeless planets. Elon Musk and his SpaceX venture are hell-bent on Mars. Richard Branson, who is well known for getting his rocks off in daredevil stunts, recently flew his Virgin Galactic rocket to the edge of space (that was actually pretty exciting). And Amazon giant, Jeff Bezos, has also entered into sci-fi entrepreneurialism with Blue Origin, which seeks to industrialise outer space.
Humans are an intelligent species and can be brilliantly inventive, especially when there’s no shortage of funds. But this sense of constant escapism and a hunger for more is a great psycho-spiritual affliction. Somehow, along the way we have lost our sense of self, as a part of and connected to the world around us.
The really interesting, and somewhat disturbing thing, about the foundation of off-planet business ventures like these, is that their missions are about saving humanity, even claiming to exist for children and the future. Musk argues that the best way to solve the world’s problems is actually by leaving Earth behind.
The Earth is the most beautiful life-filled planet in our solar system. Destroying it and then moving on to a sterile environment doesn’t seem like the wisest play for humanity. But the problem is that the environmental disaster and climate catastrophism is causing so much fear, and conflicting science, theories and (sometimes dis)information have turned it into a minefield. Who can we trust? And who is ultimately responsible?
However, our extractive and consumptive paradigm kind of isn’t working anymore, and the imbalanced socio-economic systems we're a part of, are what got us into this mess in the first place.
Perhaps the answer to the problem can be found in the problem itself — in rewilding our hearts, within the natural world. And while it’s important to question the impact of our individual actions, and how we can restore and protect life on this planet, we mustn’t lose our centre, a sense of adventure, or personal peace in the process.
This article was first published in The West Australian in Renée Gardiner’s weekly column in Agenda, 14 August 2021.