How to Calm Your Climate Anxiety – Urgent care Of Kansas
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How to Calm Your Climate Anxiety
Anxiety over climate change | How to cope with constantly changing weather
Environmentally responsible people are a unique bunch. We’re consistently on the lookout for signs of climate change and we freak out about plastic in the ocean. But it’s not all bad — our eco-anxiety can be a positive force.
Eco-anxiety is what happens when you get so caught up in the guilt-inducing spray of mainstream media that you start to worry about everything, says Robert Boice, co-author of “The Handbook of Nature Study” and a naturalist with the Philadelphia Zoo.
Boice and other environmental psychologists say eco-anxiety is an extension of our natural empathy, which is why many environmentally conscious people are also activists who want to make changes to save the world.
“People who are high on eco-anxiety feel a personal responsibility for nature,” says Meredith Goren, author of “What’s Up with Our Weather?”
These feelings often go hand in hand with the belief that there are simple fixes for climate change if only the world would use less plastic, drive less fuel or turn down their thermostats — or at least understand their impact on the planet.
We’re not just talking about the weather in terms of how to dress when it’s hot, cold, wet, or snowy, but more about how this current climate shift is impacting our overall well-being.
The fact that we are also experiencing increasing eco-anxiety is something that can’t be ignored as we consider what we buy and how we consume on a daily basis.
There are a number of factors making us nervous about the future, including wildfires, heat waves, and hurricanes. However, stewing or ignoring the problem will not make anything better.
After the Woolsey Fire on November 8, 2018, 53-year-old Greg Kochanowski drove past his own street in the Santa Monica Mountains without recognizing it.
His Seminole Springs neighborhood had been ravaged by the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County’s history, with more than half the homes being destroyed. A moonscape remained, he said – ash and char, black and gray.
He was traumatized by the loss of his home. However, his sense of orientation was shaken by the loss of his own neighborhood, Kochanowski recalled, and he began having existential concerns about climate change. His 14-year-old daughter’s future now fills him with anxiety.
He said. “What kind of world will Ava grow up in? What about when she reaches my age? Is Southern California uninhabitable then?
Kochanowski’s anxiety is a sentiment called climate anxiety, which includes anger, worry, and insecurity associated with a warming world.
According to a recent report from the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, climate change threatens mental health. High temperatures are related to depressive language and higher suicide rates. Fires, hurricanes, and heatwaves can cause psychological trauma and depression.
According to Trevor Riggen, who runs the Red Cross’ domestic disaster programs, climate-driven disasters have forced volunteers to stay in the field for months rather than weeks. As a result of climate change, he noted that the Red Cross has been shifting from immediate trauma to more chronic conditions that require additional mental health interventions.
Climate anxiety is particularly crippling for young people, who are frustrated by those older than them. Despite their attempts, people do not understand how we are changing the planet, said Adah Crandall, a 16-year-old activist in Portland, Oregon. “The inaction of adults in the past has left me fearful for my future.”
Kochanowski now sees his neighbors’ faces as they become anxious as the humidity drops. Summer days last longer than other times of the year, and dewy, cool mornings are rare. A lot of the time, he wonders if they should move on.
“You realize there are forces greater than yourself that are beyond your control,” he said. “It leaves you feeling helpless after that.”
As for Andi Poland, 49, a technical recruiter who lives near Denver, she also feels anxious, sad, and dreaded about living on a hotter planet. She said, “I am glad I am short for this planet.”. “I believe I have one-third of my life left. That is all the time I have, and I am not upset about it.”
According to a recent article in The Lancet, climate anxiety may be the crucible through which humanity must pass in order to harness the energy and conviction required for the lifesaving changes we need right now.
You have every right to be concerned about climate change.
Merritt Juliano, a therapist in Westport, Conn., and the co-president of the Climate Psychology Alliance North America, says that anxiety is a rational response to climate change. It shouldn’t be a source of concealment or a source of neglect.
Ms. Juliano stressed that emotions are not something that can be fixed. Rather than ignore climate concerns, people need to identify them and understand why they exist. It makes us stronger to embrace them.”
It is crucial to stay connected to others.
Over half of 1,000 respondents to a survey by the American Psychiatric Association expressed concern about the impact of climate change on mental health. Britt Wray, a Stanford University postdoctoral fellow studying climate change and mental health, says you don’t need to endure a hurricane to experience climate anxiety. Reading about catastrophic flooding in Germany, facing a longer mosquito season in Pennsylvania, or seeing orcas disappear from Puget Sound can all trigger a deeper emotional response to climate change.
“No matter what our status or experience is, we can all reach out at arm’s length and touch it,” said Dr. Wray.
People who don’t talk about anxiety can suffer depression, as the pandemic has shown, Dr. Lertzman said.
People from across the country and throughout the world are gathering in informal gatherings called climate cafes to discuss the climate crisis. Some groups combine their community work with action.
Through a 10-step process outlined at weekly meetings, the nonprofit Good Grief Network offers support for climate distress. Participants commit to “reinvest in meaningful efforts” at the conclusion of the process.
After attending Good Grief meetings, Bradley Pitts, a 43-year-old artist, says he and his wife have shifted personal choices toward mitigating the effects of climate change in response to their emotions. The couple bought an old farm in upstate New York and are regenerating it into meadows and forests.
When facing climate anxiety, Pitts remarked, “Sitting on the sidelines is not an option.”
In times of anxiety, action is the antidote.
Sarah Jornsay-Silverberg, executive director of Good Grief Network, said the organization doesn’t see any single strategy as a silver bullet against climate anxiety. To be successful, you need to do things that mean something to you, and that reflect your internal shift in perspective.
When it comes to energy efficiency, people often think of turning off the lights. However, using a clothes dryer consumes as much electricity as running a standard LED bulb for 13 days.
Ms. Sacha, 17, is a senior at Manhasset High School; she had her first anxiety attack in 2018 after reading that greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 to prevent dangerous 2.7 degrees of warming.
“It is not in my power to make things happen on a global scale, she said. “But you can make a difference in your own backyard.”
ISeeChange, a community platform for observing climate change, encourages volunteers to record observations online. The participants in New Orleans used storm-water data to show flooding effects outside of expected models. Local officials redirected nearly $5 million in federal funding towards building a larger storm-water detention tank for one low-income community.
Be persistent in whatever you do.
In fact, what fuels your anxiety – your imagination – is also your most powerful weapon against it, according to Dr. Wray.
The Woolsey Fire and the anxiety that followed changed Kochanowski’s perspective. Known as a landscape architect, he is creating a laboratory that will promote more radical climate-adaptive building and design.
Over the past 20 years, fire has forced Kochanowski’s family to evacuate three times from the oak woodlands and chaparral that surround his home. Their neighborhood is their home, and they hope they can help adapt it to the new climate reality.
They rebuilt using non-combustible materials and defensible spaces. In front of their new home, they planted a flowering tipu tree, which can produce a canopy of shade within just a few years. In his words, “we won’t be defeated by this thing”.
This is the reason why Urgent Care of Kansas exists; to help people overcome their anxiety and be happier in general with their health and the environment. Often when people experience seasonal anxiety, it can lead to other illnesses like autoimmune disorders, depression, and allergies so it’s best to address the root cause of the problem. The issue of climate anxiety is something that’s never been talked about. I’ve noticed more and more people have been coming into the clinic and complaining about it, especially in the last couple of years. The truth is, people are worried about their health and the environment, and confiding in us helps them understand that there is something to be done about it.
Choosing a natural approach to better health and improved environmental conditions is a direct positive effect we can all make as individuals. We can start taking proactive steps to live healthier lives.
