This page was created for participants in one of our Climate Conversations. It contains our thoughts and feelings on the topic that day and should not be read as advice. There may be factual inaccuracies. You may find the related conversation guide helpful if you want to know more about the topic we discussed.
Coping with the climate crisis, and the process of adjusting and changing is a long-term project. Along the way, there are going to be ups and downs. The situation continues to develop. It seemed like a good time to check in with how we’re feeling about the climate crisis, how we’re hoping an how we see the current situation and our future.
This meeting took place the week Donald Trump was elected to a second term as US President.
How are you feeling?
- I’m on a general slow-motion emotional roller coaster.
- Some good things have happened – an 8% drop in EU emissions, but then I find out that methane is accelerating!
- There are peaks and troughs of misery and hope.
- It’s affecting me at work, for example when people are joking about Donald Trump and I feel like a broken record.
- Generally, it’s a downward slope emotionally.
- With Trump, I’ve mostly been thinking about that.
- I feel a bit resigned to it now. There’s not much I can do about it.
- I feel sad that so many people vote and don’t care about climate change and things.
- I’m annoyed by people on the left not understanding voters and doing the same old thing.
- I watched the Jodie Comer film The End We Start From and felt it could be quite accurate, it was scary and depressing. Then a friend sent me an audiobook recommended by a friend of theirs who is a climate scientist, and that climate scientist isn’t all doom and gloom, they have hope.
- I’m somewhere between very distressed and numb.
- Trump’s election feels like the end. I don’t have much hope.
- I’m afraid not just for the climate, but that racism, misogyny, inequality and authoritarianism will get worse. I think people who hold those views will be emboldened.
- I don’t feel like I’ve really taken it in. I’ve been procrastinating a lot and avoiding thinking about it.
- Some of the things I read today were soothing, saying there’s still work to be done and that Trump won’t be able to do whatever he wants, but I don’t think I really believe it.
On Trump’s re-election
- Trump can do what he wants.
- Maybe if America becomes a dictatorship it would be a good thing in the end? Maybe the resto f the world would step up. AMerical would be less powerful?
- Or maybe, they’d form a bloc with other dictatorships?
- Rupert Read says we should start preparing and building resilience.
- It seems mixed up. He’s anti-immigration and a climate denier. But the climate crisis is causing people to migrate.
Grief and sadness
- If you feel down does it make you talk to people more?
- When I’m angry I feel like talking about it to others more.
- When I’m sad I find it difficult to talk to other people.
- I don’t think it’s taken as seriously as other grief.
- We don’t have a script for it. People don’t know how to respond. And they might not want to talk about the subject. They might be avoiding their feelings.
- The climate crisis is different (from bereavement and other kinds of loss). It’s not an event you get over; it goes on and on.
- The climate crisis is different (to bereavement) because everyone is affected by it.
- When talking about the climate crisis with friends we end up not joking exactly but being light-hearted. That helps a bit.
- Politicians aren’t doing what’s needed they’re making it worse.
What can we do with grief?
- Grieve or mourn. Psychologists seem to say it’s important.
- Grief seems separate to what I do (climate action). Like parallel processes.
- Sadness and grief are underlying it’s always there. When I do something like spend time with young family members it’s great, but I feel sad for their future.
- On the other side, things are going badly with our institutions.
- I’ve been reading about regrowth.
- I believe the future will be shit. I might not be able to stop that from happening. But I can do other things like maintain social connections, something men my age are known to be bad at, which we’ll need as things get worse.
- The government won’t do anything so focus on building resilient communities. For example, I’m taking a course called Trust the People which includes thinking about our identity, and citizen assemblies.
- I think I suppress my grief. I avoid thinking about what is lost.
- Our culture doesn’t support us in expressing this kind of grief. There’s no equivalent of a funeral ritual.
- In our culture, even bereavement is often private. We hide and limit public expressions of grief.
- Grief from bereavement comes in waves. I can’t keep up that intense kind of grief.
- Maybe we should make the most of what we’ve got before it’s gone. Appreciate things while they’re still here, although it’s also sad.
- Being in nature is good for us as well. Although it’s sad to see the damage. For instance, seeing how few insects there are compared to the past when walking in familiar places.
- Maybe part of why it’s not easy to talk about with other people is that some of the losses aren’t immediate. We know some places, species, or ways of life don’t have a future because of the damage already done – but they haven’t disappeared yet.
Topic for next time:
How can we make it more acceptable to talk about climate grief?