Grieving Our Mother The Earth

[Star Man]

Dear WaccoBB readers,

I founded Humanity Rising in 1992 on the basis of 12-step principles with the focus on abuse of Our Mother The Earth. Obviously we have been spectacularly unsuccessful in stopping the abuse. In much the same way, Alcoholics Anonymous has not stopped alcoholism -- it never had that intention -- but it has helped one alcoholic at a time to recover. Our principal practice in Humanity Rising is the sweat lodge. The idea is that recovery from abuse of Our Mother The Earth entails a spiritual awakening, a change of personality sufficient to stop abusing the planet. I don't personally believe mass movements will change the current trend toward collapse. No problem can be solved at the same level of organization as the problem itself. I am wary of words like "the battle on global warming." Right now, human beings are waging war on the planet. Waging a war against climate change is trying to solve the problem at the same level at which it was created.

I was trained in biology as a young man and now I am a psychotherapist. I see the problem of climate change from both perspectives. As a psychotherapist I am aware that humans live in denial of death, and we destroy the planet and all life on the planet because we have not come to terms with our personal deaths. Ernest Becker wrote "The Denial of Death" in 1972 describing the situation perfectly in psychodynamic terms. Humanity Rising accepts death as a reality. We have no belief in an after-life, which is a basic belief of christianity and of patriarchy, two of the many motivators of global warming. The corporation is a death-denying construct and it is a primary force in creating climate change.

From the perspective of biology, especially evolution, we must consider that we humans are a failing evolutionary experiment. Our flaws are creating the conditions -- overpopulation; climate change; pollution of air, land, and water; species extinction; over-fishing; and machinification of the planet including nuclear weapons -- that will kill us all off. We have also created the next evolutionary advance, the "organisms" that will replace us: the Kingdom of the Machineae.

In the sweat lodge we cherish the beauty that is disappearing. We grieve for the disappearance of the White Rhino, the Siberian Tiger, the coral reefs, and all the other thousands of species that have disappeared. We also cherish the beauty of glaciers, oceans, might rivers, clean air, all the edenic places and environments on our planet that are disappearing. Our spirituality teaches us that we humans have one important quality: our spirituality. We alone are capable of prayer with self-aware self-consciousness -- maybe dolphins, whales, and elephants as well. Ultimately, reality is ambiguous. We give it meaning. For the corporatist the meaning of reality is profit. For Humanity Rising, the meaning of reality is its spiritual essence.

As the Lakota say, "O Mitakuyue Oyasin" All my relations. Aho!

Star Man
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mourning Our Planet: Climate Scientists Share Their Grieving Process

Sunday, 25 January 2015 00:00 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | News Analysis

Downloaded January 25, 2015 from https://www.truth-out.org/news/item/...ieving-process

I have been researching and writing about anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) for Truthout for the past year, because I have long been deeply troubled by how fast the planet has been emitting its obvious distress signals.

On a nearly daily basis, I've sought out the most recent scientific studies, interviewed the top researchers and scientists penning those studies, and connected the dots to give readers as clear a picture as possible about the magnitude of the emergency we are in.

This work has emotional consequences: I've struggled with depression, anger, and fear. I've watched myself shift through some of the five stages of grief proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance I've grieved for the planet and all the species who live here, and continue to do so as I work today.

I have been vacillating between depression and acceptance of where we are, both as victims - fragile human beings – and as perpetrators: We are the species responsible for altering the climate system of the planet we inhabit to the point of possibly driving ourselves extinct, in addition to the 150-200 species we are already driving extinct.

Can you relate to this grieving process?

If so, you might find solace in the fact that you are not alone: Climate science researchers, scientists, journalists and activists have all been struggling with grief around what we are witnessing.

Take Professor Camille Parmesan, a climate researcher who says that ACD is the driving cause of her depression.

"I don't know of a single scientist that's not having an emotional reaction to what is being lost," Parmesan said in the National Wildlife Federation's 2012 report. "It's gotten to be so depressing that I'm not sure I'm going to go back to this particular site again," she said in reference to an ocean reef she had studied since 2002, "because I just know I'm going to see more and more of the coral dead, and bleached, and covered with brown algae."

Last year I wrote about the work of Joanna Macy, a scholar of Buddhism, eco-philosophy, general systems theory and deep ecology, and author of more than a dozen books. Her initiative, The Work That Reconnects, helps people essentially do nothing more mysterious than telling the truth about what we see, know and feel is happening to our world.

In order to remain able to continue in our work, we first must feel the full pain of what is being done to the world, according to Macy." Refusing to feel pain, and becoming incapable of feeling the pain, which is actually the root meaning of apathy, refusal to suffer - that makes us stupid, and half alive," she told me. "It causes us to become blind to see what is really out there."
I recently came across a blog titled, Is This How You Feel? It is an extraordinary compilation of handwritten letters from highly credentialed climate scientists and researchers sharing their myriad feelings about what they are seeing.

The blog is run and operated by Joe Duggan, a science communicator, who described his project like this: "All the scientists that have penned letters for this site have a sound understanding of climate change. Some have spent years designing models to predict changing climate, others, years investigating the implications for animal life. More still have been exploring a range of other topics concerning the causes and implications of a changing climate. As a minimum, they’ve all achieved a PhD in their area of expertise."

With Joe's permission, I am happy to share the passages below. In the spirit of opening the door to a continuing dialog among readers about our collective situation, what follows are the - often very personal - thoughts and feelings of several leading climate scientists.

Frustration

"Like many others I feel frustrated with the current state of public discourse and I'm dismayed by those who, seemingly motivated by their own short-term self interest, have chosen to hijack that discussion," wrote Dr. John Fasullo, a project scientist in the climate analysis section of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, on the Is This How You Feel? blog. "The climate is changing and WE are the primary cause."

Professor Peter B. deMenocal with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory shared an analogy to the climate scientist's predicament, comparing it to how a medical doctor would feel while having to inform their patient, who is an old, lifelong friend, of a dire but treatable diagnosis. The friend goes on to angrily disregard what you have to say, for a variety of very human reasons, as you watch helplessly as their pain and illness unfold over the rest of their now-shortened life. "Returning to our patient, I feel frustrated that my friend won't listen," he concluded.

Dr. Helen McGregor, a research fellow at the Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences, shared a very emotionally honest letter about her experience as a climate scientist. Here is what she wrote in full:

I feel like nobody's listening. Ok Sure, some people are listening but not enough of our leaders are listening – those that make decisions that influence all our lives. And climate change is affecting and will continue to affect all our lives.

I feel perplexed at why many of our politicians, business leaders, and members of the public don't get that increased CO2 in the Earths atmosphere is a problem. The very premise that CO2 traps heat is based on fundamental physics – the very same physics that underpins so much of modern society. The very same physics that has seen higher C02 linked with warmer periods in the geological past. And sure, there have been warm periods in the past and the Earth weathered the storm (excuse the pun) but back then there weren’t millions of people, immovable infrastructure, or entire communities in harms way.

I feel astonished that some would accuse me of being part of some global conspiracy to get more money – if I was in it for the money I would have stayed working as a geologist in the mining industry. No, I do climate research because I find climate so very interesting, global warming or not.

I feel both exasperation and despair in equal measure, that perhaps there really is nothing I can do. I feel vulnerable, that perhaps by writing this letter I expose myself to trolling and vitriol – perhaps I'm better off just keeping quiet.

Hope
Dr. Jennie Mallela with the Research Schools of Biology and Earth Sciences at the Australian National University shared a range of emotions, including optimism.

"I believe people are capable of amazing things and I do believe that climate change can be halted and even reversed," she wrote. "I just hope it happens in my lifetime. I don't want to become the generation that future children talk of as having destroyed the planet. I'd like to be the generation that fought back (and won) against human induced climate change. The generation that worked out how to live in harmony with the planet – that generation!"

She wasn't alone.

"So whilst there is enough good and committed people we can change our path of warming," wrote Dr. Jim Salinger, an honorary research associate in climate science with the University of Auckland's School of Environment. However, he went on to add, "I am always hopeful – but 4 to 5 degrees Celsius of change will be a challenge to survive."

I asked Dr. Ira Lefier, an Atmospheric/Oceanic Scientist whose research has focused on methane how he felt about our current situation. He expressed his concerns and frustration, but also optimism.

"I find the current situation is highly distressing, ...

Continues here.