Solutions: Making it personal

So now comes the hard part. How do we put the climate solutions I’ve discussed over the last few months on this blog into action?

One of the ideas Stokner emphasized was making climate change personal. So here is my personal story of what got me trying to live more sustainably a priority.

I had a reckoning of sorts when I gave birth to my daughter, Zoë, last year. I was faced with that “life-will-never-be-the-same” intensity of caring for a newborn all new parents know. Round the clock feeding, changing, squeezing in a meal and sleep when we could. If you don’t have children in your life, I can tell you – it is a ride. But a wonderful one that I am lucky to be on with my partner, our parents and friends.

After the initial whirlwind weeks of life with our daughter, there was something that stayed with me. I felt that new parent amazement of how miraculous and precious life is holding my daughter. I felt and feel profoundly grateful for my own parents and what they did and continue to do for me.  Maybe it was all the hormones but there was this feeling of awareness of my place in the cycle of life (cue “Lion King” soundtrack).

It brought up thoughts about my own mortality. Which is maybe a weird thing to think of when you just brought new life into the world – but that’s how I felt. It’s kind of like that Robert Munsch book “Love You Forever”. A bit sad and strange but your parents loved it. As a kid it made me feel slightly uneasy. It wasn’t the predictably unpredictable humour of Munsch. It was exactly this kind of sentiment that I felt – growing up and growing older.

All these thoughts that no one really likes to think about brought me to the question: what will life be like for Zoë when I’m not here for her?

And this is really when I started thinking about the future and the environment on another level. (And maybe I’m not the only one: check out this article )

Literally – I had conversations with my partner about how many days it would take to walk or bike to the cabin if we had to flee because Toronto was flooded, or faced some other kind of societal breakdown from climate disaster.

So, yes, I was letting my eco-anxiety get the better of me. I felt powerless, frustrated, angry. I sometimes still do.

Out of sheer desire for control, I wrote a list of both concrete actions we are already doing, things we planned to do in the short term and things to do in the long term to work towards a more sustainable lifestyle. And this list is what brought me back to the blog.

It’s helped me organize my thoughts, stay positive and helped spur discussion of a shared vision of what my partner and I want now and for the future.

Facing climate change is like facing a lot of other challenges in your life: it depends on your mindset. You can decide to give up, or you can decide to do your best to do your best. My parents taught me that.

 

Part 2: Solutions – It’s all in our head

Source: thegreencode.net

My last post was on confronting Ecoanxiety and the feelings of frustration, overwhelmed-ness, and despair when faced with climate change.

So how do we overcome such a complex and slow moving problem?

Living in a Dying World: Confronting Ecoanxiety (Part 1 of 2)

Grist / Amelia Bates

I’m realizing more and more that the loss of the natural world isn’t just depressing to me alone.

When it comes to the impact of human action on the Earth’s interlinked systems, there are so many things we can’t seem to control, stop or fix. It’s hard to see a solution to such complex and overwhelming problems. Where and how do we start? This blog post is in two parts, first to discuss what more and more people are feeling when faced with the future: Ecoanxiety. Then part 2: Solutions.

The Association of Psychologists APA defines Ecoanxiety as “a chronic fear of environmental doom” in their 2017 report Mental Health and Our Changing Climate.

The Big Apple: taking a big bite out of Fossil Fuels Industry

In case you missed it last week, New York City made an historic announcement to divest 5 billion dollars from fossil fuel investments over the next 5 years; while simultaneously suing the big 5 oil companies for their role in accelerating climate change.

From the Mayor’s office:

“New York City is standing up for future generations by becoming the first major US city to divest our pension funds from fossil fuels,” said Mayor de Blasio. “At the same time, we’re bringing the fight against climate change straight to the fossil fuel companies that knew about its effects and intentionally misled the public to protect their profits. As climate change continues to worsen, it’s up to the fossil fuel companies whose greed put us in this position to shoulder the cost of making New York safer and more resilient.”

New York’s city pension funds hold approximately $5bn in securities over 190 fossil fuel companies. NYC says it “is among the most significant divestment efforts in the world to date.”

Mayor de Blasio and Comptroller Scott M. Stringer announce divesting of $5bn and a suit against 5 major oil companies, Jan. 10, 2018 http://on.nyc.gov/2mLgL42

Affordable Renewable Energy?

Have you seen this sign in your neighbourhood?

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33373268

We see it every now and then, a small white sign tucked into a flower bed or front window. A yoga studio I go to uses it – but I never really knew what they did or how it worked exactly.

One small step: Ohm Connect

This blog was going to be a list of concrete actions that we can all do to be more environmentally responsible. But once I got to writing my list it was way too long!

So this post is dedicated to just one small step. I find myself mentioning this to friends more and more often; Ohm Connect.  What the good people at Ohm want you to ask yourself is:

Officially on notice.

Humanity – you’re on notice!

In 1992, a group of thousands of scientists, known as the Union of Concerned Scientists warned that human actions were dramatically damaging the natural world.

Twenty-five years later, what have we done to reduce our footprint on our one and only home Earth?

RE: start!

After a five year hiatus, I am coming back to the blog.

The new focus for re-starting this blogging adventure: climate change.

After reading the New York Magazine article The Uninhabitable Earth on how bad climate change is getting – I was overwhelmed, as many were, to really face these worst-case scenarios. (N.B. seventeen scientists from Climate Feedback, a network of scientists that assess media coverage, question the article’s credibility here).

To be honest, I didn’t even read all the way through the epically long and annotated article by David Wallace-Wells. My friend – you are preaching to the choir . I know climate change is real and happening to us all right now. I do appreciate the thought experiment – because it forced me to sit with this knowledge, however hyperbole it may be – and imagine; what kind of world am I preparing for my children and my grandchildren? It forced me to confront my anxiety, my deep sadness, my seeming paralysis and powerlessness to effect change – or as Stony Brook professor Heidi Hunter calls it Eco-grief.

Enough is enough. I’m tired of the apathetic attitude that it’s too late; of blaming it on politicians; of lamenting the international failures of climate conferences!

 

I, for one, am not going to sit around feeding my misplaced fear over climate change by watching Zombie movies – what would I say to my grandchildren?

This blog is my space to brainstorm, ways that I, you, we, can start becoming optimistic realists about the environment and examine our role as homo sapiens on this planet.

 

 

 

Women and Girls on the Map in Disaster

This is cool but do we spend too much time entertaining and impressing ourselves with interactive maps rather than doing anything with the information they provide?

Education in Emergencies

How are we portraying women and girls in disaster? Are they shown as victims, lacking agency? Linda Raftree works with Plan International USA and blogs about cutting edge use of technology in development. Check out her post on putting women and girls on the map in disaster.  The post discusses  the resiliency of women and girls and how they are taking action within their communities to mitigate and prevent disaster.  Through the use of crowdsourcing applications – we can show it!

Disaster Risk Reduction is increasingly finding a place on the development agenda, so much so that the UN has designated an International Day for Disaster Reduction. Mapping gender in disaster situations is an emerging area within DRR and has something EiE Canada is looking at exploring further over the next few months. Stay tuned for more on DDR and EiE Canada!

 

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Minutes and presentations from Nov 5 meeting

Check out the Education in Emergencies Canada Minutes and presentations from Nov 5 meeting which was focused on slow on-set emergencies such as the Sahel Crisis. I’m now helping run the blog for the Education in Emergencies Working Group Canada, co-chaired by Save the Children Canada and Plan Canada here in Toronto. The blog is to help continue dialogue between meetings and be a resource centre for those working and interested in Education in Emergencies, (with a special maple syrup flavoured network of connections).