I Started An Eco-Anxiety Support Group On My Local Nextdoor Page
So far I am the only member. I have yet to invite anyone else because I am not sure how to go about it.
The only thing I am fairly sure of is that I have what I believe to be a pretty serious case of eco-anxiety, and I feel like I could use some support.
It is not like I am alone in this, after all. We are all in it together. It is nonetheless weirdly awkward to finally come out about it.
I mean, I have been activity involved in climate change issues since the early nineties. I have put my body, career prospects, important relationships, and all that I thought I could take for granted on protest lines and in my work for decades. So it will come as little surprise to any who know and/or care about me to read I suffer from some form of ecological anxiety.
Yet, it feels weird and awkward to discuss my concerns in the terms of a condition, as though there is a cure for what ails me, when I am afflicted with the dread of leaving my son and others to live in a forcefully simplified environment, perhaps too degraded to sustain life in ways, as they say in divorce court, to which it has become accustomed.
What is said to be the cure, in fact - increased connection and direct action - is, too, I fear, merely more distraction from the reality of what the science and scientists are saying.
The “Truth” of it?
Help me out here... please?
1 comment
Hi Dan,
Your words resonate with me. It is easy to get pessimistic when looking at the science, trends, and the lethargy of our social institutions in the face of a catastrophe. I cry at times knowing that the world we are leaving our children looks like one of the bleak distopias so often depicted in literature and movies.
In spite of feeling hopeless, I want to offer the world what things might look like if we lived sustainably on the earth. The action that I and at least one other at this point are launching is called the Green Change Caravan. The vision is to have a caravan of cargo bicycles pulling trailers with all the equipment needed to set up a miniature circus along with educational activities to spur people to action.
How far is your shop from the Smart train station? I will be traveling back and forth from Mill Valley to Santa Rosa and would love a reason to stop in Novato.
Regarding the exposition you are planning in May, lets keep in touch.
Geo Monley