If you are a regular HEN reader, you will know that the previous two issues have linked to seminal articles on climate change and eco-system collapse (see past issues here).
One action that has resulted since publishing those articles, is a friend and fellow community-builder Gabe Epstein contacted me to let me know there are a few people in our ‘hood starting to really chew on these issues locally.
I was intrigued!
Within weeks, a group of us have now met a few times to discuss the impact these issues are having on us and what we think we can do.
The irony is, many of the people gathered, are the same people who gathered together 10 years ago to form our food security group: Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers (GTUF). GTUF grew organically (I know!) – whereas this group has a certain urgency that GTUF didn’t’ have.
Because of this newsletter and these recent conversations, I’ve had a sustained focus on the “state of the world” – such that I couldn’t enjoy a sunny day these last weeks without thinking that it meant climate disaster, floods, starvation, pestilence and all manner of horrible things – for myself, my loved ones and for future generations as well as other species, plants and all life forms.
That’s a lot to carry with one’s mid-morning green tea!
The culmination for me was waking up in the middle of the night recently in utter panic. I woke up with this deep, deep dread and sense of helplessness.
Luckily, that was my low point.
Somehow, things have shifted a bit since that fateful night. I still feel scared about what might be coming but it’s not consuming me. It’s an attentiveness now, that I think results in motivation and change.
What shifted?
Part of my shift was the realization I was going to need to manage my emotions or else I couldn’t continue to hold the reality of the possibilities being played out by very reputable sources: scientists, authors, researchers, journalists (I could go on).
This realization then opened me up to a new possibility. I read a post in a Deep Adaptation Facebook group (oh yes, I’ve been diving deep!) and it was about “Hopium.” Hopium is a derogatory term for those who hope that things will be different with the environment or state of the world. What started happening in the Facebook group was some people in the group said they hoped things would be different or found hope in various places. Others would say they didn’t believe in hope. One side felt hurt, the other self-righteous.
This happens when we panic. We start to slip into our reptilian selves. This less resilient part of ourselves sees things in black and white; we become rigid, judgmental and lose compassion.
I repeat: this happens to all of us.
My final antidote came through someone else’s blog/podcast. James Altucher was interviewing Mark Manson on his newest book – one about the study of hope.
This line jumped out at me:
“Being heroic is the ability to conjure hope where there is none.” … Mark Manson
All at once, I “got” it.
My job is to “Hold On To Myself” (sub-title of a book I co-wrote with my co-author Judy Zehr).
I can’t control the destruction of the earth, our eco-system, plants, people, etc.
But I can control myself. I can find those nurturing places inside myself that allow me to stay firm and planted where I am.
I like hope. I am going to hold on to hope. I am not letting go of you, hope.
And if that is my opium, so be it.
Hope won’t stop me from acting.
Hope will give me the strength to hold steady.
Hope will help give me the presence of mind so that I can show up still with my caring, my kindness, my compassion intact.
For myself, for you, for us.
And, to top it off, here’s what is, to me, a hopeful article.
Hope can and must coincide with actions, no matter how small or trivial. Every time we are faced with choices, the external impacts of that choice should be considered. Simply making the choice to fill a need to restock the kitchen food supplies can have a environmental impact depending on the choice of how those groceries are produced and transported.
Thank you Rob… Yes… Action!
This has really resonated with a lot of what I’ve been thinking about lately too – thank you. Just a few days ago I came across another post that was also very powerful and ultimately hopeful so I thought I’d share the link:
https://science.anu.edu.au/news-events/opinion/how-do-we-go
Thank you Sharon. It’s good to join with others in our field who are also sitting with and digesting and soul-searching on climate change and eco-systems collapse. I appreciated the article… I am asking myself what messages do we as conflict “resolvers/engagers/transformers” want and need to amplify? I’m doing a TEDx talk at the JIBC June 5 – feeling a weight on my shoulders… want to talk about both mediating and .. while the world burns… J
Thank you for these words, Julia, and “hello”. It’s been three years since we were together.
So much attention, justifiably, is placed on our environmental predicament. (Married to an environmental geologist, I’ve been hearing and thinking about these issues for some time.) We hear about — and recognize — many of the ecological problems. What we don’t hear, however, is anything about redistribution of wealth, and that’s a topic that hits on the most unpopular (in this country) topic of taxation. Can we possibly hope for better environmental behaviour in Canada when a large segment of our children — i.e., adults too — live below the poverty line? Can this unfortunate fact offer us a clue as to why certain European countries leave us in the dust, so to speak, environmentally? So — back to HOPE. Let’s think about placing it in a radically reorganized society; one that attends to equity, as well as ecological sanity.