Are You Anxious About Climate Change? Taking Compassionate Action Will Help

Image by Ronan Furuta

My mission in life is to help people feel calmer, safer and more at peace. That’s what I do, all day, in my therapy practice. It’s what I try to do in my teaching and writing, including these posts for my blog. The last thing I would ever want is to make you, my lovely reader, feel more anxious.

But if there is one thing we should all feel anxious about right now, it’s climate change. That’s because the science overwhelmingly tells us that climate change is real, humans are causing it, it’s here right now and will only get worse, unless we take drastic action to minimise the damage. After a summer in which most of southern Europe seemed to be on fire, today’s news brings another terrible wildfire, fanned by hurricane-strength winds.

This time it’s in Hawaii and has caused devastation, as well as a tragic number of fatalities, on the island of Maui. Let’s all take a moment to pause, close our eyes, and send our love and strength to those affected by this awful fire, as well as the many other climate change-linked tragedies around the world.

At the same time as we watch these disasters unfold with increasing regularity, most of our leaders seem unable to grasp the scale of the problem. There are notable exceptions, like President Biden, who may not have a perfect record on climate change, but does recognise that we face a climate emergency and has invested vast sums into transitioning the US economy to clean energy (which has boosted the economy, reduced inflation and created jobs). He deserves far more praise and gratitude from the public than he gets.

Climate crisis = mental-health crisis

I’m sorry if this is reading more like an impassioned opinion piece than a mental-health blog post/newsletter – I am very passionate about this subject, as I think we all need to be right now. But I also think it is a mental-health issue, because so many people – especially the young, who understand climate change best and will be most affected by it – are incredibly anxious, stressed and depressed about our deteriorating climate, as well as the threat to wildlife and our natural world that climate change is causing.

And the real point of this post is to say: please don’t let climate-change anxiety overwhelm and paralyse you. That’s not good for you, but it’s also exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants. They want us to be so freaked out that we think, what can I do? This problem is far too big for me to change, so I will let the politicians work it out and keep flying multiple times a year, eating meat every day and driving my SUV.

In fact, things are far more optimistic than that, because small actions we all take can make a real difference to this big problem. We also know that taking compassionate action like this is hugely beneficial for our mental health, helping with problems like anxiety and depression, so it’s a win-win. I really don’t want to lecture or patronise you, because I’m sure you already do plenty and are trying your best, but a few suggestions would be:

• Eat less meat, especially beef and pork, which not only contribute to climate change but also Amazon deforestation (a key driver of deforestation is for industrial agriculture, using the land to grow soy beans to feed cattle)

• Swap your petrol or diesel car for a hybrid or, even better, electric car. Using more public transport, cycling and walking would also be great (and get you fitter too!)

• Fly less – perhaps once a year, for your family holiday. The vast majority of flights are taken by a small minority of people, so we can all make a difference by choosing a staycation or taking the train on holiday (which is also a far more enjoyable way to travel than flying)

• Use your vote to support the greenest party or politician wherever you live. And pester your politicians and government to do much more – like transitioning to net zero as quickly as possible

• Use your consumer power (something I think we massively underestimate) to pressure corporations into using less plastic, not buying meat or timber products sourced from the Amazon, and much more. Sadly, many CEOs only care about profit margins, so let’s hit them where it hurts, by boycotting the worst offenders and letting them know why we won’t shop with them until they improve

• And try supporting some of the many charities and pressure groups driving the green revolution, like Earthed, Possible, Avaaz, the WWF, 350.org, Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and Greenpeace, who you can donate to using the button below

As I said earlier, please don’t let climate-change anxiety overwhelm you. This is a solvable crisis and we have all the solutions we need, right now. We, as the global human family, just need to act on them. Let’s do so today to make this beautiful, miraculous planet a safe, green paradise for our children and every generation that follows them.

Sending you love and warm thoughts ❤️

Dan

Compassion for the Planet

Image by Elena Mozhvilo

As we build up to the COP26 climate summit here in the UK, I wanted to share a few thoughts about the importance of compassion, for yourself, other people – both near and far – and all life on this planet. We are clearly facing a grave threat right now, as climate change heats our precious planet to levels that are already causing severe weather such as unusually powerful hurricanes and freakishly/unsustainably high temperatures, like the near-50C heat recorded in Vancouver this summer.

Melting ice caps, catastrophic flooding, wildfires raging across the globe… It’s easy to feel hopeless and defeated right now (and I often do, believe me – the news can be overwhelming at the moment). But I refuse to be defeatist, because I passionately believe that just as humanity created this crisis, so we can solve it. Despite our many faults as a species, humans are remarkably intelligent, creative and downright tenacious when we throw our collective weight behind solving large-scale problems.

Just look at the pandemic – humanity mobilised and developed a safe, highly effective range of vaccines in record time. I am lucky enough to have had my booster jab recently and feel both humbled and deeply grateful for the many brilliant scientists and medical staff who have come together to protect me and my loved ones from this awful disease.

Why compassion is the answer

So just giving up and allowing greedy corporations, such as the oil and gas industry, to destroy our children’s future is not an option. I think we should all do everything in our power to tackle climate change, from driving and flying less, eating less meat, buying less stuff, using less plastic… right up to pressuring our politicians and corporations to change their behaviour in every way we can.

As consumers, we all have tremendous individual power to change things, if we only realise that and use it (imagine if the whole UK population collectively boycotted Tesco, for example, until they stopped selling rainforest-destroying beef. I guarantee you they would take it off the shelves in double-quick time!).

And to do that, we all need to harness the uniquely human skill of compassion. Remember that compassion involves two steps: first empathy, so we imagine what it’s like for another person (or sea turtle, wild salmon or polar bear) to be suffering, really putting ourselves in their position and feeling that suffering from the inside. Then making a conscious decision to do everything in our power to help relieve their suffering.

The Buddha taught us that this beautiful thing, compassion, is a force we should direct to ourselves, those we love and care about, then those we don’t like so much and out and out, in ever-expanding waves, to all living beings. That means every human on this planet. All mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects – even microbes, without whom you could not survive a single day! And of course every plant and tree on the planet too, which are also essential for our survival (you know that oxygen you just inhaled? Mostly from plants).

Do what you can

I’m not saying that everyone has to start living a perfect life, or turn into Greta Thunberg over night. Just do what you can. It’s not that hard for us all to turn down the heating; drive less (or even better, switch to an electric car); only fly once a year, if at all; eat less meat; drink tap water instead of bottled, and so on.

You can also donate to my favourite charity, the WWF, using the button below, if you can afford it and wish to do so. So please, be compassionate. Do what you can. Show a little love for this beautiful, miraculous, life-giving planet we all inhabit. Your children and their children will thank you for it, I promise you that.

Warm wishes,

Dan