ADAM OLSEN -- Fear is not the only driver of action. For many it's the fear that is causing paralysis
Green Party MLA Adam Olsen |
Eco-anxiety
is an increasing social cost of climate change. A lot of people are feeling it
these days. The Maclean’s series on climate change is perhaps the most recent
and comprehensive mainstream Canadian news coverage of the environmental crisis
we are in. However, they are not the only publication covering it.
There is a daily flow of information, from a
wide range of diverse sources. It's not just environment writers covering the
beat, it's increasingly become part of everyone's beat.
The Maclean's
articles thoroughly canvass global warming from an array of different
angles. Some of it will certainly fuel anxious feelings about the future of our
species and our planet. However, fear is not the only driver of action. For
many it's the fear that is causing paralysis.
Alanna Mitchell is the author of a compelling
part of the series called “Wait!
There’s Good News.”
It's just that, the good news from the
scientists, academics and activists who are working on addressing global
warming. Jordan Health-Rawlings interviewed Mitchell on the July 11, 2019
episode of The Big Story Podcast called, “What
does the world look like after we solve climate change”.
Admittedly, it's an odd angle to view climate
change from. Yet, Mitchell quotes Neil Jennings, from the Grantham Institute,
"Rather than talking about what we may have to give up, it's a focus on
what we'll actually gain."
This shift in perspective is inspiring. It's
an unsustainable approach to continue to only count the benefits of something
while ignoring the costs, just as it is not psychologically healthy to only
fear a future devastated world and not have a vision of what the world looks
like when we address global warming.
I highly recommend
the Maclean's articles but The Big Story Podcast is a great place to
start.
Adam Olsen ... is a Green
Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North
and the Islands.
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