Climate anxiety marries weather calamities to emotions of fear, anger and despair.
It’s what we have been experiencing since the onset of this historic coronavirus pandemic.
Changes in weather and animal life are impacted by deforestation of woodlands. Researchers suspected that humans were exposed to the coronavirus when forests were indiscriminately cut down and infected feral animals came in contact with us. These animals were caught and sold in what are called “live markets,” consequently passing the disease to people who handled them.
We humans were blindsided by this untreatable virus in 2020 as it spread from person to person around this planet. It has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, including health care workers and loved ones. We don’t have to personally experience the fright and alarm of these individuals to be deeply emotionally distressed. We are traumatized by the awful union of changes in climate and a problematic virus.
Human beings generally don’t like change. We resist it and can respond emotionally while simultaneously putting problem-solving on the back burner. Fear and anger can easily be the leading drivers for behavior, whether we are aware of these emotions or not.
Human ingenuity has provided us with ways to respond to the coronavirus. Adapting to the circumstances by taking protective measures is an effective way to respond. Individuals assess danger and avail themselves of the necessary resources to curtail the potential damages. Remember, though, that the coronavirus is not only about facts of the disease, but of deeply felt emotions and ongoing trauma.
Coronavirus brings into glaring focus the dangerous harm that nature unleashes upon us, and we are justifiably afraid and even experience the dread of not surviving. Climate related disasters such as heat waves, ferocious storms, and floods weigh on us, too. Experts think that climate anxiety has been part of our lives for years. If this is accurate, then we can expect to be anxious from the steady pressures of COVID-19 disease variants and continued strange weather patterns.
The alarm is sounding. Listen. The coronavirus may be only the first salvo from a disrupted natural world to shock all of humankind. We must ask ourselves, “What are we doing to nature? What must we correct?” The solution is to stop destroying the world around us. It’s urgent that we do more than to address the symptoms — the coronavirus variants — by tackling an underlying essential problem — demolishing forests. We all know that there are actions that we can take individually and collectively to fix this dangerous problem. Do we recognize, however, that by taking actions to answer these questions, we reduce anxiety?
We should care about climate anxiety because we are emotionally exhausted by minor irritations and serious troubles which have affected both physical and mental health. It should come as no surprise that, with pressures of emotional distress, social violence increases. Minority groups become more the focus of hostilities. It’s our responsibility, consequently, to conquer what ails us.
Let’s do something about this distress on Shabbat. Lift up our voices in appreciation to G-d for reaching this most wondrous of days and be grateful for our own existence. When we offer healing prayers for others who are suffering, certainly, we should add our own names. We pray to G-d for healing.
Vow to restore and to live in harmony with this earth. Promise to accomplish these goals by going from strength to strength, day by day. Days will stretch into weeks and months due to the severity of the issues. Personal actions like these, and more, develop and sustain purposeful resilience.
Stepping into the New Year, it is necessary to cooperate with each other and to build bridges with the greater community to repair the damage. I believe that grassroot efforts will likely, in a big way, begin to resolve our problems. Public determination and insistence work. Elected officials appear to be unmotivated beyond pledges and promises.
Healing nature is vital for our ever-present distress. Our hope and highest goal should be to save the future for our families. If we do nothing, we will be doomed by uncharted natural disasters partnered with explosive social violence.
Mary Greenberg, Ph.D., serves on the State of Kansas Holocaust Commission. Her speaking engagements on preventing antisemitism are based on her research that advances the study of the Jewish people in the Diaspora. She is also dedicated to writing about how a Jewish perspective, with deeply principled values, enriches our contemporary lives.
