With the cascading reality of climate change finally capturing public attention and leading to louder, more widespread calls for decisive action, meteorologist and veteran climate hawk Eric Holthaus says the first step in resolving “climate trauma” is to name it for what it is.
In the United States, the proportion of citizens who say they’re “alarmed” about climate change—and willing to make changes in their own lives in response—has doubled in recent years, Holthaus writes on Grist. “According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, almost one in three Americans—about 100 million people—are champing at the bit for climate action, vastly outnumbering the 9% of Americans who are ‘dismissive’ of climate change,” he writes.
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The last few months have seen a “litany of extreme weather disasters” and the landmark IPCC report on 1.5°C pathways, leading to an influential, youth-led climate movement and introduction of the Green New Deal earlier this month, Holthaus notes. But new research indicates there might be something deeper at work, as well.
“There’s a new vein of psychology that is starting to analyze climate change from the perspective of a massive, shared trauma, and its conclusions are profound,” he writes. “‘Climate trauma’ can only be addressed by naming the enormity of what we’re facing. Only then can we process how we feel about it, and move forward together, to solutions.”
The Green New Deal still has challenges ahead, not least ensuring that those most affected by the climate crisis aren’t left behind by potential solutions. But “as long as those pushing for radical policy change keep directly confronting the scale of the problem,” Holthaus writes, “it’s going to be easier to bring even more people on board.”
