How to turn climate anxiety into action | Renée Lertzman
The Overwhelming Pain of the Current State of Our Planet
The speaker expresses the deep pain and overwhelming feelings associated with the current state of our planet, including issues like forest fires, ocean plastic, species extinction, and displacement. These emotions are common and understandable given the circumstances.
Facing Overwhelming Feelings
- It's deeply painful to face what's happening on our planet right now.
- The speaker mentions various environmental challenges such as forests burning, ocean plastic, species extinction, and displacement. [t=16s - t=25s]
- It's easy to feel totally overwhelmed and experience emotions like helplessness, powerlessness, anger, numbness, and disconnection. [t=31s - t=51s]
- These messy and complicated feelings make total sense given the gravity of the situation.
Personal Experience and Epiphany
- The speaker reflects on their own experience as a college freshman studying environmental studies. They felt overwhelmed by the negative information about human impact on Earth. [t=62s - t=85s]
- During a field study in California with open discussions about feelings towards the world's problems, they found themselves feeling better and more capable of facing these challenges head-on. [t=115s - t=140s]
- This led to an epiphany that psychology could hold a missing key to addressing environmental crises by understanding ourselves and one another better. [t=140s - t=170s]
Staying Present in the Face of Painful Challenges
The speaker explores how psychology can help us stay present with what is painful and threatening while remaining connected.
Window of Tolerance
- Dr. Dan Siegel introduced the concept of "window of tolerance," which refers to how much stress we can handle while staying connected and integrated.
- When stress exceeds our tolerance, we may experience a collapse response (depression, despair) or a rigid response (denial, anger). In both cases, our capacity to be resilient and adaptive diminishes. [t=205s - t=335s]
- Climate change-related information can push us beyond our window of tolerance, leading to emotional fluctuations and challenges in maintaining resilience.
The Missing Ingredient: Psychology
- Despite psychology's knowledge about coping with painful experiences, the speaker noticed a lack of reference to psychological insights in environmental studies classes and climate action meetings. [t=212s - t=235s]
- The speaker's mission is to bridge the gap between psychology and environmental work by translating psychological concepts into resources for those working on the frontlines of environmental issues. This missing ingredient can enhance creativity, resilience, capability, and courage in addressing global challenges. [t=235s - t=270s]
Three Game-Changing Concepts
The speaker introduces three game-changing concepts that help make sense of the current moment for humans.
Concept 1: Window of Tolerance
- Dr. Dan Siegel's concept of "window of tolerance" refers to how much stress we can tolerate while staying connected and integrated. Stress beyond this threshold leads to collapse or rigidity responses that hinder resilience and adaptability. [t=293s - t=330s]
Concept 2: Staying Present with Pain
- The paradox lies in how we stay present with what is painful, threatening, overwhelming, and scary. Psychology offers insights into managing these emotions effectively. [t=330s - t=335s]
Concept 3: Psychology as a Missing Ingredient
- Psychology holds the potential to exponentially accelerate our capacities to be creative, resilient, capable, and courageous in addressing the world's challenges. Integrating psychology into environmental work can enhance our collective efforts. [t=356s - t=270s]
The transcript has been summarized and organized into meaningful sections using timestamps provided.
The Double Bind and Apathy
In this section, the speaker discusses the concept of a double bind and how it can lead to feelings of apathy and inaction. They explain that people may feel stuck between wanting to take action but also being scared of change. This internal conflict can cause individuals to push away their care and concern for important issues.
The Double Bind
- A double bind is when someone feels trapped or stuck, as if they are damned if they do something and damned if they don't.
- It is an intolerable human experience that leads individuals to try anything to escape from it.
- When faced with urgent situations like climate change, people's care and concern may go underground, leading others to perceive them as apathetic.
Motivating Solutions
- Many people who recognize the urgency of the situation try to motivate others by becoming cheerleaders for solutions or presenting facts.
- While these approaches are not inherently bad, they can inadvertently lead to more numbing and inaction instead of inspiring action.
Attunement as a Solution
- Attunement is the practice of tuning in and understanding one's own emotions and experiences without judgment.
- It allows individuals to be in sync with themselves and others, fostering a sense of acceptance and understanding.
- Attunement can be applied in various contexts such as small groups, campaigns, classrooms, etc., where individuals give each other permission to be themselves.
Window of Tolerance for Problem Solving
In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of the "window of tolerance" and highlights its importance in problem-solving. They emphasize that when individuals are more attuned within their window of tolerance, they become more capable of finding creative solutions and adapting effectively.
The Power of Attunement
- Attuning with oneself allows individuals to tap into their window of tolerance, where they can effectively solve problems and be their best selves.
- Attunement requires skill and practice, especially when facing urgent threats.
Applying Concepts to Climate and Environmental Work
- The speaker suggests that the concepts of window of tolerance, double binds, and attunement can inform climate and environmental work.
- Attunement can be brought into every aspect of this work, starting with oneself and extending to social interactions and leadership.
Cultivating Conditions for Collective Action
In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of cultivating conditions that allow individuals to show up as their brilliant selves in collective action. They highlight the need for compassion, curiosity, and attunement in order to support each other through these challenges.
Compassion Towards Ourselves
- Cultivating conditions for collective action starts with tuning in to our own emotions and being compassionate towards ourselves.
- Recognizing that these are difficult issues and moments allows us to approach them with curiosity rather than self-judgment.
Attuning Socially
- Attuning socially involves giving each other permission to be who we are without judgment or shame.
- This creates an environment where our nervous systems can calm down, allowing us to engage in higher-level functioning.
Leading with Attunement
- Leaders should show up as human beings who acknowledge their fears and uncertainties.
- By embracing vulnerability and emphasizing unity, leaders can inspire collective action.
The Capacity for Change
- Each individual has the capacity to meet challenges with ingenuity, brilliance, and bravery.
- However, creating the necessary conditions for collective action requires collaboration and support from one another.
New Section Let's Take a Deep Breath
In this section, the speaker encourages us to take a deep breath and have compassion for ourselves and others as we collectively process difficult realities.
Compassion in Challenging Times
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of having compassion for ourselves and one another during this moment in history.
- They encourage us to come together and face these painful truths and difficult realities as a collective.
- The world is ready for us to do this, and we are capable of facing these challenges.
Timestamps are provided for each bullet point to easily locate the corresponding part of the video.