Do We Care Too Little or Too Much?

Apply what we know about healing trauma to our response to the climate.

How To Live in a Burning World Without Losing Your Mind. In this article, Liza Featherstone suggests we apply what we know about healing trauma to our response to climate catastrophe. I agree.

We know that when people feel threatened, we go into fight/flight/freeze. The stress levels in the world right now are driving more people into overwhelm and avoidance. Between the global pandemic, social injustice, our personal lives and climate change, we have reached our limit and can’t take in any more bad news. We want to do the right thing, but our brain isn’t functioning well. We’re in freeze.

We may find ourselves rationalizing our inaction. The climate crisis activates all our fear buttons along with feeling hopeless and powerless. It’s too much. The system is too entrenched. Composting or riding my bicycle to work is not going to save the world.

Researcher Dr Renee Lertzman found that most people want to save the planet, but they also want cheap flights and air conditioning. Mired in guilt we are unable to take action. Being shamed and pounded with catastrophic images drives us deeper into freeze.