Hope and Resilience Topping Climate Scientists' Concerns

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A United Methodist Insight Column

Are you experiencing "hope fatigue?" That's one of the names therapists are giving to feelings of anxiety, "tuning out," or giving up in the face of the world's many crises, especially the climate crisis.

A recent Washingtong Post article, 8 ways to feel less anxious about things beyond your control, by Lesley Alderman, a psychotherapist based in Brooklyn, points out that humans just aren't "wired" to handle so many threatening situations at the same time.

"Humans need to feel they have some degree of control, Ms. Alderman writes. "When you take away a person’s sense of safety, depression and anxiety can set in."

The writer goes on to say, "It’s no wonder that 33 percent of Americans reported symptoms of depression and anxiety this summer, up from just 11 percent who reported those symptoms in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Household Pulse Survey."

Another Washington Post article by Ta'Leah Van Sistine, A New Campus Offering: Climate Anxiety Therapy, points out "a critical need among young people for climate stress counseling services." Such stress prompted teen-aged climate activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden to agitate for more action by world governments to address global warming, resulting in young people rising up in droves to demand climate action.

Ms. Van Sistine writes: "Eco-anxiety is commonly used to describe people’s concerns about climate change, but psychologists say it is better to use more general terms like 'climate stress' and 'climate distress' — terms that encompass the range of feelings someone may have in response to climate change. Climate stress therapy, experts say, is an effort to validate these emotions, help clients process their responses to climate change and provide coping strategies."

In an echo of the advice offered Sept. 11 by climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe during the "Green Team Summit," Ms. Alderman offers some suggestions for coping with climate stress that can easily be added to pastoral counseling in local churches:

  • Take a break from the news. 
  • Focus on the present.
  • Try a breathing exercise.
  • Take action. 
  • Join forces with a friend.

Some of the best overall counsel being shared these days is: Think about what you can do, rather than about what you can't. So what can you and your congregation do in your own backyard that will care for God's creation and help reduce the climate crisis?

Resilience is key to climate change solutions

Climate activists are disappointed that the Inflation Reduction Act just signed by President Biden includes zero dollars for implementing climate resilience in threatened communities.

The Washington Post's "Climate 202" newsletter reports:

"While the landmark law contains historic investments in curbing planet-warming emissions, it provides no money for making infrastructure more resilient to disasters, even as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events across the country."

The climate newsletter quotes some experts:

"Alice Hill, a former special assistant to Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council, called on Congress to prioritize hazard-resistant building codes, despite its packed agenda before November's midterm elections."

"Natalie Enclade, executive director of the BuildStrong Coalition, an organization that advocates for updated building codes, urged the Senate to pass the Resilient AMERICA Act, which would empower FEMA to support the adoption of stronger codes through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program."

These requests are something that United Methodist climate activists will want to keep an eye on. Meanwhile there's a tool for checking out climate resilience and adaptation.

Our favorite government agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) gladly announced on Sept. 10: "The all-new, interactive Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) screening portal is live! CMRA is a 'first-of-its-kind' hub of integrated information from across the U.S. Federal government aimed at helping communities, federal agencies, and other levels of government better understand their exposure to #climate hazards and strengthen their #resilience plans to build a #ClimateReadyNation.

"The site’s new CMRA Assessment Tool offers information on past, present, and projected future climate conditions to help Americans screen their exposure to climate-related hazards; and it helps them create their own custom climate exposure assessment for specific locations, including customized statistics and visual representations of the hazards in their particular area."

We checked it out for our sponsoring congregation, St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite, Texas, and it was really cool to see all the data. Check it out at https://resilience.climate.gov/ 

She may be ugly, but she's a planet-saver

Everyone loves to contribute to saving cute or cuddly animals like pink dolphins, pandas and wolf cubs. But what about the admittedly not-so-cute species such as the hellbender, a kind of giant salamander?

National Public Radio reports that wildlife conservationists are now focusing on saving "less charismatic" species, since there may be as many as a million species facing extinction, according to the United Nations. One way to save species is to protect their habitats. For the hellbender, this means preserving the fast-moving, rock-strewn streams where they live and like to eat crayfish. What's more, seeing hellbenders means the water quality is good as well, says biologist Michelle Herman

So the next time someone asks you to save some unfamiliar, ungainly species, chip in a couple of bucks. Mother Earth – who gives life to us all – will thank you.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.