20th Feb 2020 | Article

What can we do about the climate emergency?

Increasingly human beings are waking up to the glaring reality of climate change and its implications not just for the human but for all species on this planet.

It is easy to fall into a feeling of powerlessness in the face of the sheer enormity of the task ahead. And that is a beginning. To feel. To feel rather than to numb. To feel fear, shock, overwhelm, guilt, anger, despair and sadness. But that is just the first (and very important) step. And to allow the progression through every stage of feeling.

Then we can reflect. We can think about the causes – multiple one, e.g. overconsumption. What drives that? Looking for a sense of self/identity/status/value/comfort/nurture – and these are all inner/emotional drivers – how can we be satisfied through the inner world? What are other causes? Mindset? – the cultural, 2000-year-old idea that nature, the body, feelings, receptivity and reciprocity, the softer realms of life are somehow inferior, thus divorcing men and women alike from their inner nature, leading to a compensation in materialism. Other causes? Systemic problems in the outer structures of society e.g. agribusiness, advertising and so on. And many other causes.

From reflection we can go on to imagine – use our creativity positively. The images in our dreams, in art, in our inner world and images of the sheer Beauty of nature that inspires love/soul and the desire to preserve it. We can imagine how each of our unique gifts and talents can make a positive contribution.

Then we can act reducing, reusing, recycling yes, choosing green options yes but also coming up with creative solutions. We can allow our feelings, our refletions, our imaginings to become so imbued/integrated in us that we live the solution – feeling the way we are all at one with the planet. We see that we are the rainforest, the bird, the jewel of blue floating in space.

We can all do something. We can make a difference. And we can begin now.

Rosanne Hooper, February 2020