by New York (AP) – fear, grief, anger, fear, helplessness. The emotional tribute of climate change is far -reaching, especially for young people.
Many are worried about what the future is doing, and a daily grinding of climate fear and distress can lead to insomnia, focus and poorer focus. Some young people wonder whether it is moral to bring children into the world. Many people mourn the natural world.
Activists, air conditioning psychologists and others in the fight against climate change have a number of ways to build up resistance and to manage the management of emotions. Some ideas:
Become active in your community
Do you feel isolated? Find ways to connect to like -minded people and help nature, said climate psychologist Laura Robinson in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There are many ways to get involved.
Work on site to convince more residents, for example to give up grass grass and increase the biological diversity with local plants. Help to establish new green spaces, to protect projects to protect water, to develop wildlife corridors or to reduce the pesticide to save frogs, insects and birds. Work to reject the nightly lighting to help birds and lightning bugs.
“I see people who have to struggle with these emotions in the entire age range,” said Robinson. “I have parents who really have to struggle with their own feelings and are really worried about their children in the future.”
Make a positive sandwich
The climate news and the rush of disasters and chaos in general have become difficult and overwhelming for many with the advent of social media and mobile phone. Try to plan breaks of notifications on your phone or to step back from the news cycle in any other way.
Consider the idea of a “positive sandwich”, where you start with good news, followed by a harder treat, and then end a second feel -good story.
Model behavior for your children
The 39 -year -old Phoebe Yu gave up a comfortable job in health technology to work on sustainability at an MBA with a focus. She started a business that sold sponges that were made from the Luffa pumpkin. And she does everything while raising her 6-year-old son with her husband in Fremont, California.
“I am generally a very happy person and I am very optimistic. And I’m still that, but sometimes it will be very difficult to handle. How, what fits and thinks about it in the long run,” she said. “At points I regretted having brought a child into this world and knew how much worse could get.”
Part of the administration of your own emotions is to model your son sustainable behavior and to clarify him about the importance of the help of the environment. The family drives an electric vehicle. They do not eat meat and encouraged the extended family to do the same. They recycle, compost and limit the journey with air.
“I try to explain things to my son so that he has at least a certain understanding of how the world and the ecosystem work as a whole,” said Yu. “I think children can take this up and turn it into a certain level of effect.”
Remember: we are all connected
Britnee Reid teaches Middle School Science for the Gaston Virtual Academy, a K-12 Virtual Public School based in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Reid took part in a pilot project for a free teacher tool about the climate, which was compiled by the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Climate Mental Health Network, a collective of community advocates that work on the emotional effects of climate change.
The KIT is full of opportunities to help teachers support the mental health of the students and to manage their own climate -use emotions. One of the exercises is that students document their interactions with the natural world in an environmental center. The laying of everything often stirs action, said Reid.
“You can be anxious, you can be angry, you can feel anxious, but like these Geters, you will make the change in this world. ‘ There are two truths at the same time in which they are afraid, but they also have the feeling that I can do something about it, ”she said.
“The Zeitlinien,” said Reid, “delivered some good, rich conversations.”
Find the words to express your feelings
The psychotherapist Patricia Hasbach outside of Eugene, Oregon, wrote several books on ecopsychology and eco therapy and informed doctoral students on these topics.
“We integrate nature into the healing process,” she said. “And we deal with the relationship of a person to the natural world. Certainly with climate change, eco therapy plays a major role.”
One of their most important missions is to help people find their words to talk about climate change in order to pursue resilience.
“Some studies have been carried out that show an increased number of young people who report concerns how 84% of young people in the United States report, concern about climate change, but only as 59% of them believe that other people are as concerned as they do,” said Hasbach.
That, she said, contributes to inactivity and feelings of anxiety, depression or isolation.
You are not. You are many
The climate researcher Kate Marvel, physicist and author of the new book “Human Nature: Nine Ways to feel about our changing planet”, people ask people to think differently about their place in maintaining the environment.
“Often the fear and hopelessness results from a feeling of fainting. And I don’t think one of us is powerless,” she said.
“I think we are incredibly powerful,” said Marvel. “The atmosphere takes care of what we all do together and I think you can have a lot more effects if you consider yourself part of the collective.”
