… or gave me hope, at least!

Pootling back from a meeting last night, I happened across Dev, a Radio 1 DJ starting his show by saying,

“Alright I’m a bit worried guys… I’m freaking out a little bit, okay? Why aren’t we listening to Sir David Attenborough?!…”

Anyone else catch it? You can listen to the clip here.

I felt really hopeful hearing Dev name his fear (even in jest about recycling his own show) as it is suddenly SO MAINSTREAM, SO TALKED ABOUT in what I think are pretty new places. 10 years ago, when I started climate campaigning, I never imagined flicking on Radio 1 at 9pm and hearing a DJ talking about how he is freaking out over global warming. And that gives me hope, because we NEED to be talking about it.

You can listen to Sir David giving his powerful warning at COP 24 in Poland here:

Where has climate change popped up for you recently, and has it given you hope to hear it being discussed?  Or are you feeling something else entirely?  Perhaps you feel numb.  No emotional response is ‘wrong’ – but not processing some might make taking the necessary action harder.

You may have seen our new ‘5 things we can all start doing right now’ leaflet – and notice the sneaky 6th is ‘talk about it!’:

We will be providing opportunities for talking about our feelings throughout the next year, in combo with lots of opportunities to take important action.

In the meantime, here are some links you might find useful and thought provoking:

Uncovering the Mental Health Crisis of Climate Change: How to move people from apathy to action [Nexus Media, 12 minute read apparently]

Working through Environmental Despair, Joanna Macy [old article, but Joanna Macy has some very important and relevant work]

Coping with Climate Distress [interesting article from a group of Australian organisations working in the area]