Page 32 - Issue 2

32
The Strange Joy of Climate Change
WHEN WE WE MOVE BEYOND DENIAL WE WE MIGHT JUST TRANSFORM
Mercedes Grant Artwork by Georgia Love
“Nature loves courage You make the commitment commitment and nature will respond to that commitment commitment by removing impossible impossible obstacles Dream the the impossible impossible dream and the the world will will not grind you you under it will will lift you you up ”
— Terence McKenna
In 2016 sustainability educator and strategist Jem Bendell was invited to to give a a a a a a a a a a a a a keynote talk talk at a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a business institute in in in in Australia The talk talk was meant to to to to be a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a global call to to to to action towards stopping climate change but instead Bendell decided to to give a a a a a a a “very different talk ”
revealing for the the the first time his hypothesis that within the the the next decade our society will collapse due to climate and ecological breakdown “I didn’t realize at at at at the time [that] what I I was was talking about was was so so so certain or so so so soon ”
he he later
told author and podcast host Amisha Ghadiali in in Bali Bendell went on on to to write a a a a a a a a a a a a a controversial academic paper released in in in July of 2018 entitled “Deep Adaptation: A A Map For Navigating Climate Tragedy ”
The paper reviews scientific evidence for us to to to “consider the implications of it being too late to to to avert a a a a a a a a a global environmental catastrophe in in in in the the lifetimes of people alive today ”
and invites us instead to to to reflect on on the the very nature of who we are in in in in relation to to to our Earth home at at at at this precarious time in in human history “The strange joy of climate change ”
he he he writes is is the opportunity for us to to consider deeper questions like “Why are we we alive? How do we we wish to to live? live? And what is is important to to us?”
Since Bendell published his paper many of our individual and collective reactions to the the climate crisis have mimicked stages of of grief: denial of of the the the facts anger and growing divisiveness towards each other bargaining to to keep our comfortable albeit oppressive systems in in in in place shutting down all emotions and turning to destructive coping mechanisms Psychologists have recently qualified ecological grief as a a a a a a a “psychological phenomenon ”
triggering symptoms of PTSD depression and anxiety We’ve also seen a a a a a a historic rise in in global protests from the the youth-led Fridays For Future movement movement to the the non-violent direct action movement movement Extinction Rebellion So how do we begin to find our place in in fin in all of this?
Longtime environmental activist Karen Mahon Carrington supports people as they explore these existential questions through a a a a a a a framework she calls “Climate Hope ”
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She’s quick to to define “hope” beyond “an expectation or or desire for something to to to happen ”
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Rather hope is “a refusal to to give up on on love ”
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she says “It’s about helping people develop the the emotional and spiritual resilience to engage with the the crisis