Climate change and mental health

In one version of my story I'd start off describing myself as the child of caregivers. My father is a retired child and family therapist, my mother a nurse, my step-mother a social worker and teacher, and my step-father... well, okay, he's the exception: he was a city property inspector... not much caregiving there. So 3/4 the child of caregivers.

At the conference on climate change last weekend I gave some thought to what aspects of responding to climate change really interests me and where best to put my energy. I think I am slowly realizing that, like my parents, what fulfills me is helping people: being of some benefit in relieving suffering. I am a "cool hand on a fevered brow" sort of person. I don't have much in the way of experience in helping people medically, but at every moment I find myself constantly aware of, and concerned with, how people are feeling and coping emotionally and mentally.

As I've become more and more involved with environmental and social issues, like climate change, I've noticed a few ways in which psychology and mental health needs could be to be addressed, and I'm absolutely fascinated by them. Here are a few of the thoughts I had at the conference with respect to psychology and mental health (note, I don't have much of a background in psychological so I don't have the proper terminology to use yet):

• On the one hand there is immediate, or "situation trauma": If you're a victim of torture, war, or natural disaster, you'll likely experience some form of psychological trauma or distress which may benefit from treatment.
  
• Then there is "vicarious trauma" and the related sorts of trauma that come from engaging empathetically with traumatized people, or even stories about those people. From what I understand, the effects can be very similar to more immediate trauma.
  
• Another step removed from traumatic events themselves is the kind of suffering that comes from engaging with the issues: activist burnout, compassion fatigue, or "green fatigue" (i.e. becoming worn out from trying be as environmentally conscious as possible).
  
• Lastly, I see how people deliver and react to news about climate change research, pleas for action, or simply in conversation: from green guilt to the shrug-and-ignore response to outright denial that there is a problem. As I see it, speakers who don't give their listeners any healthy ways of engaging with their issue may being doing more harm (or much less good) than if they had crafted a presentation that empowers people, not only informs them. Similarly, I'll bet there are lots of basic skills we could all learn to help us recognize coping strategies like guilt and denial and choose to react differently.

On that last point, the best presentation I've seen for giving the audience useful ways of responding to the talk was one on peak oil by Michael Lardelli way back in 2005. And the end of the talk, Michael had the usual Things-You-Can-Do slide (i.e. personal actions that lower your own carbon footprint), as well as other slides that pointed out the importance of thinking differently about yourself and the future. Things like: "Start to think about your current car as the last car that you'll own", or "Think of air travel as for emergencies only". These kinds of statements really hit home for me. They aren't hackneyed and ignorable thought-stopping cliches like "reduce, reuse, recycle." They are suggestions for how to change your perspective; they start you on path and give you control and responsibility.

So, recognizing my interest in this area, but also my ignorance, where do I go from here? I'm not entirely sure, yet. But, here are some of the leads I have:

• Angela Bischoff: an activist in Toronto who has lectured on mental health and sustainable activism. I contacted her during my work to organise the Power Shift Canada conference last year.
• Bill Darnell: one of the founders of Greenpeace who I also contacted for Power Shift. As of last year he was also doing work on sustainable activism.
• A few years back I attended a workshop called "From private despair to public action" put on by two trauma experts on PTSD and vicarious trauma in activists. I can't remember their names, nor can I find any info about the workshop online so I'll have to do some digging.
  
  Update: As Nora points out in the comments, the two presenters were Dr. Joan Simalchik and Dr. Yaya de Andrade. Here's the only remaining blurb I can find about the workshop.
  
  
• The American Psychological Association has set up a task force that has issued a report on psychology and climate change. The Australian Psychological Society has a whole section of their website on climate change and psychology, and Canadian Psychological Association has a section on environmental psychology.

I'd welcome any other suggestions of places to start.

Climate Change Conference, Day 2 & 3

Phew, I had to leave early on Sunday due to heat exhaustion and brain overload.  This conference has been great for meeting people and raising good and tough questions around climate change. Even so the presentations have, at times, been familiar or dry -- and I'm useless in the face of point-form notes presented in monotone and a hot room.

But some highlights:

Dick Peltier gave a talk on melting ice sheets, what is causing it to happen, and what the implications are (for instance, when the west antarctic ice sheet melts sea level will rise in the northern hemisphere because the ice sheet exerts such a large gravitational pull that it holds significant sea water to the south).  What I found most fascinating about this talk was Peltier's detailed but clear explanation of how scientists know what the know about the melting through their use of Satellite gravity measurements, and how they correct for land that is still rising since the weight of ancient glaciers melted away.  Oh right, and it's also pretty fucking scary to consider the implications of imminent sea level rise, but being scared is somewhat the new normal when you're learning about climate change.

Jim Prall spoke about his work to gauge the credibility of climate change deniers by building a database of climate scientists, their position on climate change, and their citation index.  In a nutshell, his results suggest that most of the scientists who are climate change deniers haven't published all that much in the way of climate science compared to the those who accept climate change (that's an understatement, check his very cool visualisation of the results).  Prall also gave a brief rundown of important books to read, some thoughts on why people are unconvinced about climate change, and pointed out the excellent resource for debunking climate change myths, skepticalscience.com.

John Streicker spoke about his work in northern Canada to make plans to adapt to the changing climate.  "In the north, climate change is here", he said.  I was so fascinated by his talk and his pictures of the north that I stopped taking notes, unfortunately.  He spoke about the sorts of change that is happening (for instance, ice melting three months earlier than expected -- which is a real issue for the people who rely on it for hunting and fishing), and some of the work he is doing to create a carbon neutral community so that -- and I really love this -- they will have the moral authority to ask others to reduce their emissions.  Also, I am now in love with the north.

Ronald Plain spoke about the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community near Sarnia and the terrible pollution they have to deal with, the effects of climate change, and the actions they've taken. But actually, his talk wasn't about that; it was about the need to respectfully engage in activism; it was about how people and organisations with the good intentions to help end up taking poor actions because they don't listen to the people they are trying to protect. But, I'm not doing his message any justice: I was again paying too much to his speech to take many notes.

Adrianne Mugnatto-Hamu spoke to the question of whether nuclear power is a feasible alternative to fossil fuels. Her main point was the insight, taken from Joshua Pierce and Mark Jacobson, that the very high cost and very long time to construction (10-19 years) makes switching impractical.  Instead, she suggests that we invest the money (including the money the government pays in liability insurance for nuclear power plants) into renewable energy sources (wind being one of the best options in terms of cost and time to construction).

Lastly, Ralph Torrie gave a really excellent talk (both content and style) on the history of our attempts to change energy policy during the 1970s energy crisis, and how the economic policies used to get out of that crisis do not work for the current energy crisis, but we're using them anyhow!  The essence of his point is that in the 70s the solution was to increase efficiency and reduce demand enough to relieve the price pressure, but the current problem isn't about price at all: it's about the need to reduce absolute carbon emissions. What Torrie says is that ultimately this is an issue that isn't economic so much as it is moral.  In other moral issues, like child labour and murder, we don't use economic instruments (like carbon tax or cap and trade) to solve the issue, we use regulation and enforcement and that's what we need to be doing here too.   Huzzah. 

Climate Change Conference, Day 1

Here's a quick rundown of what the folks I heard speak on Friday talked about:

Corrina Serda gave a modified Inconvenient Truth-type talk that really only spent two slides on the science of climate change (yay!) and spent the rest of the time discussing solutions.  They were all pretty familiar: use renewable energy, don't consume as much, inspire others, etc.

Gracen Johnson spoke about the lessons she'd learned from her work to organise the Fill the Hill event.  My favourite part of the talk was when Gracen discussed how growing the movement meant we needed to communicate our thoughts and feelings "in the least obnoxious way".  Later on in the evening Ralph Benmurgui brought up the same point at tactful but honest communication, and I'm really hoping someone will talk to it directly this weekend.  Overall, I was moved by how positive Gracen is, and although I've heard people talk about the need to create a "sense of possibility", I don't think I understood that need fully until reflecting on this talk.  This deserves a separate post (I'm trying avoid tl;dr).

Asfan Chowdhury spoke brilliantly about how the West is in denial as to how much climate change is a political and global security problem.   The west, Chowdhury says, sees climate change as an environmental and lifestyle problem -- we must fix the environment by changing how we live; in the east, there is mainly ignorance of the issue.  The reality is for many people in the east climate change is a matter of life or death.  That it is not seen this way in the west is an example of our denial and failure to deal with climate change as a global problem.   I must read more from this fellow.

Bill McKibben spoke about the urgency and need to mobilize to affect change immediately.  As well, this was the first time I've heard him talk about civil disobedience directly. He didn't say much other than things are urgent enough now that these sort of topics must begin to be discussed.  I'm glad he spoke to this, and I'm hoping others will too. Anyhow, his latest project is organising Global Work Party on October 10th, 2010, which I'll also talk more about later.   He gave his talk over Skype, which as I've discussed can be flakey, and it was at times. Boo.  But luckily the audience was incredibly patient and forgiving.  


Andrew Weaver spoke about the communication of science by scientists, and in particular that scientists have a moral and civil obligation (being publicly funded and all) to speak up about climate change.  


Elizabeth May, who attended the entire day, spoke in the evening about the political landscape leading up to Copenhagen and what's happened (or hasn't) since. 

Climate Change Conference 2010, Aug 13, 15, 16

I just found out about the Climate Change Conference happening this weekend at Hart House.  It looks to have a terrific line up speakers.  One of the big names talking Friday evening, and a fellow whom I think is spot on in his thinking and actions, is Bill McKibben whom you might know from his excellent books and talks (and more recently from this wonderful article).  If you'd like to learn about climate change from some of the people in the thick of trying to understand and attack it I think this conference is the place to be.