Climate Anxiety

I am scared. That is a hard thing for me to say. I am sitting here in British Columbia mid January. It is raining outside and there is very little snow to be seen. I can feel the looming effects of climate change around me. I don’t know what to do.

The problem is that this is big. It’s a chain that started many years ago. Even if we fix it now we won’t see changes until many years in the future. And the key word here is we, not I. Climate change is a global issue. That scares me.

I do my best. I don’t buy many things. When my stuff breaks, I repair as much as I can. When I can’t repair, I recycle. I don’t even drive very much, less than 15000km per year. From what I can tell I do most things that people recommend.

Still its getting warmer. Still its getting wetter. The cold winters of Canada are gone, I will have my memories and that is all. I fear that in another 20 years, I won’t recognize the winter anymore. For this I am sad.

To quote a great book: “fear is the mind killer”. This is a state of panic that doesn’t help anything. I am in a state of panic that won’t help. This fear won’t bring back my winters. This fear won’t save the future. Action will do that.

I am writing this to call out to all of you. Everyone who feels the same fear that I have. I want you to know that it is ok. Do the best that you can do. We don’t know where we are going, but I promise I will be there with you, and we will figure it out.