04/05/2023 Climate change close to home

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Slides Climate Conversations 04 05 2023Download

Our Conversation

I’ve paraphrased our stories and comments and kept them anonymous.

How do we know if these events were actually caused by climate change?

  1. We can’t know for sure if a particular weather event if is a freak occurrence or only happened because our climate is changing. It’s the pattern of temperature changes and other results that tell us climate change is happening.
  2. We do know that they’re the kind of things that scientists have warned us to expect more of.
  3. It doesn’t matter for this conversation – we’re using our stories of seeing things that could plausibly be impacts of climate change to help us connect with our feelings about the climate and ecological crisis.

Our stories: what have we seen that seemed to be an example of climate change in our local area?

  1. The long dry spring of 2018 and 2019. It was noticeable because of how quickly stored water was used up at the allotment. I felt panic, like “here we go”. It reminds me of the beginning of a sci-fi dystopian novel.
  2. Downpours of monsoon type rain that is so heavy it gets though waterproof clothing when cycling. I don’t remember the rain being like this in the past. The gutters on houses don’t cope with the volume of water. Bigger gutters are being fitted now. The drains flood in the street (though that might be the fault of the council).
  3. Parakeets have spread North. They’re living in Highfield Park and Chorlton Water Park.
  4. Last Autumn the weather seemed to confuse some of my plants. The hazel shrub didn’t turn yellow or drop it’s leaves. Then we had a really cold spell in December and they all went black. The lavender started putting on new growth in January and I was concerned a frost would harm it.
  5. My partner found a birds nest at our allotment site where the chicks had died. The birds had used discarded plastic pea netting to build the nest and the chicks had been strangled by it. It’s not climate change, but it seems part of the bigger problem.
  6. Last year we had the hottest temperatures and I struggled in the heat. We don’t have the habits, know-how or equipment to cope with the heat. We’re just not used to it.
  7. A friend told me she’d seen a cherry tree blossoming in January because of climate change. But I know there is a variety of cherry that does flower that early! I don’t want to believe things are caused by climate change when they aren’t.
  8. I’m upset by reading about all the climate anxiety experienced by young people. And seeing it in my young relative. It’s not the same as the other examples but it is an impact of climate change. I feel guilt.

What kind of feelings did these experiences provoke at the time?

  1. I felt anger, sadness, loss and guilt. I am angry because this didn’t have to happen. It shouldn’t have been allowed to get this far. And how bad will it be allowed to get?
  2. I felt panic. It feels like the beginning of a sci-fi dystopia and I’m willing it not to happen.
  3. It’s never far from your mind. There’s a panicky feeling. I should do something. I should have done something. But what?
  4. When I see children and babies I feel guilt and concern for their future. What kind of future are they going to have?
  5. What’s it like to talk about these experiences?
    1. What’s the alternative? The opposite would be to deny it and that’s no good. It’s better to feel something bad than deny it. Since coming here (to the peer support group) I can engage more with feelings like the sense of inevitability and anxiety. I can use it. Coming here I can indulge in the feeling and let it go.
    2. There’s a comfort in coming here. It’s a quote you mentioned before, that nobody should have to face this alone. We don’t normally dwell on it but here we do. It doesn’t make anything worse. It’s a good thing. It’s different to the kind of conversations you have with friends.

What methods do we have to cope with difficult emotions?

  • Avoidance
    1. Just don’t think about it!
    2. Just get on with whatever I was doing.
    3. Displacement activity like housework I’d never normally bother with.
  • Read.
  • Watch telly .
  • Alcohol.
  • Writing about it, a kind of journal.
  • Worry and ruminate.
  • I listen to the song “Breathe” by Undercover Hippy. It’s about getting some calm by taking a minute just to breathe. I’ve learnt to think differently. My feelings don’t change the situation so I may as well cope.
  • Sometimes it feels like I ought to feel bad. If I didn’t feel a strong emotion it’d be disrespectful.
  • Engaging with the problem practically. In other words, doing something about it if I can.
  • Compassion Focused Therapy “Soften, Soothe, Allow” meditation.
  • Knitting.
  • Puzzle books. I can get lost in those.
  • Being in your body.
    1. Yoga.
    2. Alexander Technique/ lying on the floor for 20 minutes.
  • Go for a walk.
  • Games on my mobile. I can lose myself. But I get tired and it’s just delayed the feeling.

Alternatives to avoiding your feelings

Here’s what psychologists have to say. There are three parts to learning to cope with uncomfortable feelings rather than push them way.

  1. Practice soothing yourself in preparation for when something happens.
  2. Practice distracting yourself in a healthy way when something happens (it doesn’t matter which you do first).
  3. If you want to go further, you can experiment with allowing yourself to build up your tolerance by letting yourself feel the emotion before soothing or distracting yourself.

Starting with some non-harmful ways of distracting yourself means that when a distressing emotion arises you have a go-to way of coping in a crisis or stressful event. Once that is in place you can expand your skills by learning to soothe yourself, or by experimenting with learning to tolerate distressing feelings. It can take some time to learn to tolerate distress so it’s good to have strategies to support yourself in the meantime.

Exercise 1 : Practicing distraction

  1. Make a list of different ways you could distract yourself. Make them suitable for you e.g. affordable, non-harmful, non-habit forming. 
  2. Keep it easily to hand.
  3. Practice regularly.

Exercise 2: Practice soothing

  1. Make a list of things you find soothing.
  2. Or, create a box of soothing items.
  3. Use your different senses (touch, taste, smell, sounds, images).
  4. Practice regularly.

Learning to tolerate distress: self-help

Here are some self-help guides to tolerating distress if you want to take that approach. You can also seek further help from professionals, like counsellors.

The importance of practising regularly

When we talked about these techniques in our peer support group it was pointed our that the reminder to keep practising was important. We just slip out of the habit of doing something that we enjoyed and helped us. It was suggested that this happens because:

  • It’s easy to get lazy (though I’m not convinced it’s just laziness).
  • Demands on our time build up.
  • It can be hard to justify taking time for ourselves.

Next time:

Next time we’re going to talk about obstacles to self-care.

Sources

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By

Jo