Facing facts
Have you ever really looked at projections for sea-level rise? On a map? Of where you live?
This morning I did. The map’s legend identified red as “land at risk.”
To the north of us, half of Vancouver, BC, was red. Including its busy international airport. When? In thirty years.
I looked south, to Seattle, where the city sits on land that rises straight up from the sea—on mountains whose feet are already underwater. Sea level rise will affect low-lying areas between Tacoma and Seattle, along the Seattle waterfront, and north of Seattle in Marysville, Everett, and Snohomish. The region’s main north-south highway, I-5, will be underwater, both south and north of the city, as will the city’s ferry docks.
Big changes, coming at us fast.
What will we do?
Mental strength—and particularly the ability to regulate our emotions, to respond rather than react—and climate change adaptation are inextricably linked.
We all know people with a deep and wide antisocial streak, a toxic amalgam of cynicism, narcissism, paranoia, and straight-up sociopathy. They look at climate projection maps and start planning how to survive. Not as a community. Not as a species. As individuals.
Plant your flag on higher ground. Prepare to defend it. Build an arsenal—and a bunker.
Most people play ostrich. Climate change? Ah, the weather’s always changing. We’ve always survived before. Don’t worry so much.
I lean toward anxiety and despair.
“OMG! The sky is falling! We’re all going to die! Suffer, and then die!” screams my Henny Penny brain.
“I know, I know,” groans my Eeyore brain. “And there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Developing mental strength
As a species, we need to develop the kind of mental strength that says to our ruthless, survivalist brain, “Yeah, I know you’re looking out for number one. Did you know that working together with others is our best chance of survival?”
That says, “Um, excuse me, Ostrich. I know this is scary and you’d rather not think about it. But not thinking about it just makes the inevitable worse. Can we pull our heads out of the sand? Find other people to face facts with? It will be less scary if we’re not alone.”
That says, “Thank you, Henny Penny, for sounding the alarm. I’m sorry people are not paying attention, or doing exactly the wrong thing, or think that nothing can be done. You’re right to be scared. How about we find a few people who are paying attention, and trying to do the right thing? We’ll still be scared, but we’ll be working together to do what we can.”
That says, “Hey, Eeyore. That gloom and doom thing? Not what we need here at the end of the world. We need courage, and the best way to get courage is through camaraderie. Let’s find some friends, and get to work. We might die, but we’ll die doing our best, with friends at our side.”
The sky is falling. The water is rising. I’m working on my mental strength. I don’t have nearly enough—yet. I’m planning new career moves so I can help others become more mentally strong.
The sky is falling, and the water is rising. This is how I’m responding. How are you responding? Would you like to work together?
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