Climate anxiety

[Lottie585]

I find myself looking at my newborn baby and my 2 year old and worrying about the life that they are going to lead in the face of governments who do not seem to think that more needs to be done to combat climate change. I try to reason with myself that a lot of mums in other generations may have felt that the world would fail their darling children too such as mums alive during wartime or historically when infant mortality rate was high. However, I think back to my wonderful childhood and I am fearful that my children will not have the same experiences I have been so lucky to have and worry about the state of the planet.
Am I alone?
How do others combat this feeling?

😴

Lol. OK. I dont care. OP can worry herself silly. I will sleep well.

We know you wont

While there is a value in campaigning and making lifestyle changes (action is the antidote to fear) it does sometimes feel a bit like pissing in the Pacific Ocean. What has helped me is preparing. Not mad prepping with tinned food and guns. But just considering what the effects will be on me and my family and seeing what small things I can do that will make change easier. So we moved inland to a walkable small town and bought a house on a hill. We are retrofitting to use less energy and to be naturally cool in hot weather. Arranging the garden for shade and growing some food. Teaching the children about basic food production. Arranging life so we don’t need a car. Preserving food without needing electricity. When I worry about something, I try to find something to do to try to assuage that immediate worry. Skills are true wealth. And step away from news and social media from time to time - historical novels are a great palette cleanser in this regard. Humans have always struggled, but the dramas of life (love, loss, ecstasy, pain) continue regardless.

So your approach to climate crisis is to pretend nothing in particular is going on?

Dumb

Can I ask what you read? You seem to have changed your thinking on it and I'd love to understand more.

I'd be interested to know your sources @Zaffarz

What makes you think this? I am genuinely curious.

https://www.un.org/en/actnow/ten-actions is useful.

OP, it’s so hard to have little ones, I remember feeling incredibly vulnerable at that time. My anxiety was more focused on war I think.
it does pass as they get older, and I agree that practically approaches can help.
maybe get a house survey to check your insulation, get solar panels if you can afford it, sponsor a child or donate to a vulnerable area, definitely reduce meat and dairy etc

Climate-related disasters don’t kill people in nearly the same rate despite many more billions in this world.

Because of modern infrastructure, we are much more protected against climate disasters, you are less likely die from one than at any other point in history.

Definitely nothing to worry about. Your kids will be more adversely affected by a poor economy than climate change

Thread is over a year old.

But yes, we're in a climate emergency situation and many people are choosing not to have children because of a bleak future. Worrying once they're here though won't help.

I had my children nearly 20 years ago. I wasn’t too worried about climate change then (but now realise I should have been).

I am extremely anxious about climate change. When I’m at my worst, I ruminate on it constantly and feel miserable and terrified. I go out and about and look at other people and wonder how they look so relaxed.

I have had to just try and put it out of my mind, avoid reading anything about it and just focus on my own small life. I try quite hard to make ‘good’ choices (solar panels, EV, reduce, reuse, recycle etc. I rarely buy anything except consumables. I don’t often fly…) That’s all I can do.

If I’d known how things would go, I wouldn’t have had children. I feel very guilty for bringing them into existence. But I feel guilty for existing also 😂 Yes, I’m a very negative person and highly anxious. If climate change wasn’t a thing, my anxiety would find plenty of other things to attach itself to, and it often does: my health, my family’s health, AI…. There’s always something to be terrified about, according to my brain. 🙄

The areas that will suffer the most are places like Africa and the Middle East. They already suffer terribly with droughts and failing crops because of their extreme weather. This will get much worse in the future. Some places will simply become uninhabitable. We'll see a rise in refugees trying to move to cooler climates

No, they move to wealthier countries, not cooler countries. Which is why you see so many migrant workers in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi despite having the hottest climate on earth. The buildings and lifestyle is adapted to the weather, it is fine.

There's a good article about the climate catastrophe in The Guardian - it says we only have ten years left til it's armageddon. It's actually more than ten years old now but all the points are totally pertinent today, it just got the prediction wrong - Gaby Hinschcliffe

The planet has gone through warming and cooling cycles for thousands of years. Warming cycles are better for humanity. Every single prediction by climate scientists has failed to materialise so they renamed it climate change. Climate change is big business designed to make you poorer.

The UK is the first G7 nation to completely phase out coal power plants. We're pretty much world leaders in this so that's got to be a huge positive.

We can't control other countries though and you not going on holiday or not driving anywhere is not going to have any impact when China has over a thousand coal power plants and are approving 2 new plants a week.

So there's no point denying your kids wonderful holidays or trips out in the car to try to save the world because it isn't going to happen. Just make the most of the wonderful things you can do with them now and prepare them in any way you can for a very difficult job market (which is likely to personally impact them them far, far more).