Feelings

Just as I was preparing to write my blog post for this week, something I was reading mentioned that the Fifth National Climate Assessment from the United States government, which was published in December 2023, was introduced by a poem. Although I don’t read poetry regularly, I was intrigued and looked it up. The poem, titled “Startlement” was written by the Poet Laureate of the U.S., Ada Limón.

I found the poem quite moving. I long for us all to be fully alive, fully human, and fully connected to the earth and to each other. When we can manage it, I think this is also the surest foundation for meaningful climate action. So instead of writing a new post this week, I offer you “Startlement,” by Ada Limón.

Reading or hearing news about the climate can pose an ongoing challenge for us. Sometimes the bad news seems overwhelming. Often it’s hard to remember the good news. I actually think that both bad news and good news can be useful to us. The bad news can help keep us focused and it affirms every decision we’ve made to put our energy into climate action. The good news reminds us that literally millions of people around the world are with us in taking on this existential crisis.

Let’s start with a bad news update and then move to some good news. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a “red alert” about global warming late last month. They noted that in 2023 humanity experienced record-breaking heat, ice melt, and greenhouse gas emissions. The average global temperature rise reached 1.45°C, nearly surpassing the 1.5° target set in Paris in 2015.
…Keep reading for details and 6 items of good news.

There have been so many interesting items in the climate news recently that I decided to use this post to share a few of them with you. Some have cheered me; some have infuriated me; others leave me feeling deeply sad. Here are ones that I found especially interesting.

Twenty of the world’s largest economies (the G20 nations) combined to provide government subsidies for fossil fuels of more than $1 trillion in 2022. This is the largest amount ever. This analysis came from the International Institute for Sustainable Development. The Institute said that “This support perpetuates the world’s reliance on fossil fuels …. It also severely limits the possibilities of achieving climate objectives set by the Paris Agreement by incentivizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while undermining the cost-competitiveness of clean energy.”

Climate change is causing a lot of human pain and suffering in many parts of the world. In order to be healthy and effective I think we need to limit our consumption of the news, but also stay sufficiently informed to make good decisions about how to be engaged in helping to create more just and sustainable societies. We need not follow every detail of each climate catastrophe, but I do think it’s healthy to face the extent of the crisis we humans face as a result of climate change. Trying to turn away from the reality of it seems to leave us ungrounded, alienated, and anxious.

Facing the disastrous effects of climate change may cause us to feel fear, grief, or other painful emotions, but it keeps us grounded in reality. Facing our feelings and sharing them with others can be healing and lead us to be more open-hearted, appropriately vulnerable, and connected with others.

I recently listened to an audio book titled, Humankind: A Hopeful History, by Rutger Bregman. One of the things I found helpful in his book is the recommendation to “train your compassion.” He advises that in the face of other people’s suffering, rather than trying to share in their pain, we strive to call up our compassion — our feelings of “warmth, concern, and care.” These are much more likely to energize us and help us feel more connected.