I know right! But sadly yes, EcoAnxiety or Ecological Grief is fast becoming a serious mental health challenge.
With so much doom & gloom statistics in the media & social channels… more & more people are feeling overwhelmed or even feeling powerless to create any real meaningful change in the world in relation to climate-related losses to valued species, ecosystems and landscapes.
But here is a feel-good story of something that happened to me on the weekend. And whilst just small in its presence… it’s the ripples of theses tiny moments that can & do create tsunami’s of change.
Top Image Credit: PlasticFreeJuly
Sharing my feel-good story (cause we all need a little feel-good)
After watching 2040 Film a couple of weeks ago, we have been doing an audit of our home/office. Evaluating where we can further reduce our reliance on plastic, and finding new creative solutions.
On Saturday morning, my darling & I went for our ritual Saturday morning beach walk… we take a bag with us and pick up plastics along the beach… and well we spend the morning loving-up Earth!
Our conversation turned to an article that I had read the previous day in the Guardian ‘You won’t save the Earth with a better kind of disposable cup’. Ouch, this article had a big impact on me… and the truth is ‘we must challenge the corporations that urge us to live in a throwaway society rather than seeking ‘greener’ ways of maintaining the status quo’.
Recycling is great, but ZERO Waste is even better!
Thinking along these lines… we were coming up with ideas for how cafes in Noosa (our home town) could put into place more regenerative practices. How cafes could entirely do away with single-use coffee cups (INCLUDING all Bio cups), and use pre-loved cups that are sitting around in peoples homes, garages or even thrift stores!
We brainstormed. Some of the ideas were crazy stupid… like coffee return/wash stations on street corners. To some that had a tinge of merit… such as ‘coffee-cup libraries’ or even apps that enabled you to earn ‘coffee rewards’ on return of your ceramic mug to any of the participating ‘regeneration coffee shops’. We also sought ways to get all those coffee mugs out of thrift shops and into the hands of coffee shops to help kick start a regenerative program. It all sounded a bit crazy, but sometimes ‘crazy’ can birth innovative ideas!
Later on that day, with ‘coffee-ideas’ still streaming… the following post came up on my instagram feed….
WOW… there it was… our idea to use unwanted/thrift shop mugs was already being employed into an informal a mug/cup library! AND the call was put out there to tag your favourite café to do this!
It just goes to show that the answers are all here… the wisdoms are right in front of us… but it is up to us to grab hold of them, love-them-up, and live-them… if we are serious about restoring & regenerating this planet for the future.
It takes a Village – Find your Tribe
I know my little story above seems simplistic. There are major crises happening on the Earth, how could a coffee mug library possibly be a solution ?
But on the other-hand, if we also resign ourselves to believing that using a biodegradable one-use cup is the solution… then isn’t this just as unrealistic ?
I believe we already have the answers to our problems, but that it is going to take ‘a village’, YOUR Community, TRIBES of people around thew world to BE these solutions. What are YOU/WE going to do TODAY to be that bridge between where we are now, and where/what we know within heart we are capable of being & becoming today and for tomorrow ?
If Eco-Anxiety about the long-term future of the planet has you feeling overwhelmed or resigned to the fact that the Earth is truly fooked, then here are a few resources to get you out of the gloom, and into the light of making a positive difference in the world.
- Australian Psychological Society – Online Resources
The APS have created a number of online resources to help people not only cope with feelings of anxiety, grief & depression around climate change/environment, but also resources that enable people to make a positive difference. - Sharing your DREAM & make a PLEDGE toward 2040
Inviting you add your ‘Dream & Pledge’ to our DreamTimeCapsule2040.
Your Dream is your envisioning of an awakened & enlightened humanity in 2040. Your heartfull dream for the world & your soulfull belief of what you envision the world will become by 2040. There are no limitations here, this is YOUR Heart & Soul dream! And your Pledge is the active steps that YOU are pledging to take between NOW & 2040 to bring your dreams & visions to life. Your commitment to make YOUR DREAM a tangible reality! The HOWs & WHATs that you are pledging to do/be in your community in order to be an active participant in co-creating your DREAM! - Activate your 2040 Plan
Now that you have envisioned your Dream, and made a Pledge… it is now time to Activate your PLAN. Align your Pledge with an initiative, a community, a village of people that are interested in the same types of pledges/plans as you! Reach out to a like-minded tribe… it is going to take US to make it happen.
The theme behind all of the above resources is that ‘it takes a village’. The importance of not going it alone, of not suffering in silence… but rather banding together with people of like mind and working on/toward solutions that create meaningful & measurable change in your corner of the world.
I believe in YOU. I believe in US. I believe we can do this!
OmAhOm,
xx Simone
