Keep calm and save the Earth

Australians' concern about climate has surged in the last three years to its highest ever. The Climate Institute reports that 72 per cent accept the science on human caused climate change..Significantly, only 17 per cent of voters think the Coalition has a credible climate plan, with Labor only marginally higher at 20 per cent. Only eight per cent of voters think that ignoring climate change is an answer.

63 per cent of Australians now back carbon pricing.

Yet the climate crisis was barely mentioned by the major parties, over eight weeks of electioneering.

The result is an ambivalent mindset that has produced a potentially hung parliament. Frustrated voters have turned towards minors and independents. The electorate is saying 'a plague on both your houses'

Psychologically, our collective anxiety is growing, as we ignore the real threat.

All life on earth depends on air and an ideal cycle of oxygen and carbon. But since the beginning of the fossil fuel era, humans have been disturbing the delicate balance of the atmosphere. The air is speaking to us now and bringing us an increasingly deranged and unpredictable climate. We should heed its signals.

This was one of many personal insights I gained, huddled in a small dingy recording studio, with Dr Susie Burke and Vivienne Langford. We were speaking on Skype with Norwegian clinical and organisational psychologist and academic Dr. Per Espen Stoknes,

I had obsessively read, my now dog eared copy of his latest book titled, 'What We Think About- when we are trying not to think about –Global Warming.' I was receptive to his paradoxically calm yet urgent message that we needed to 'swerve' from our current dire trajectory.

Having thought a lot about the climate over many years, and drawing on extensive research, Stoknes identified the barriers that make us resist the reality of climate change. Scientists, environmentalist, and media can put us off thinking about climate. The doom and gloom - Armageddon is near - scenarios make us switch off.

Biologically and psychologically, we are receptive to immediate threats that are visible and close in time or space. We are plagued by 'short termism' avoiding what is caste as long term, or seemingly distant threats. In the developed world we identify with the fossil fuel age and continue to benefit from it. Warnings of end of century sea rise, flooding in Bangladesh and heat waves in India, seem comfortably remote. So we try to forget climate and get busy with daily living and immediate worries.

But at what cost?

The cognitive dissonance created by information about the damage we are doing to life on earth, conflicts with our desire to cling to much loved lifestyles and illusions. To resolve this conflict we deny, minimalize, or avoid. Our identities, beliefs and way of life, may be bound up in the status quo, leading to refusal to change things.

The political squabbles, leading up to the election, were minor targets in comparison to climate change. The electioneering marathon has been a bickering fest. Both major parties have avoided the real threat. Discussions of health funding have ignored the staggering cost to health of climate change.

The catch cries of jobs and economic plans, have excluded renewable energy and adaptation to a warming world.

So what power do any of us have? The good news is that we are social creatures who imitate behaviours, such as the installation of solar panels. Setting a good example is not a vain enterprise. Neighbours will copy neighbours. Australia leads the world in household installation of solar panels. Fifteen per cent of households have installed solar

roof panels. South Australia is leading with 25 per cent of all households.

Enabling schemes and cost sharing also work. The states with the highest uptake of solar have the better assistance programs.

Does arousing fear work?

Not very well.

There is a tension between the need to be warned and the importance of not being immobilized by terror or despair.

The media needs to change its predominantly negative approach. It must communicate the facts; but tell stories of solutions and inspiring possibilities. Stoknes says that people respond constructively to stories of hope.

Leadership comes from the ground up. Politicians need to hear that we the voters and taxpayers as they call us, want real action to stem dangerous climate change. Australia is lagging in renewable energy investment projects. The policies currently in place are a sham. The threat to a safe climate is dire; but the solutions are myriad and offer a cleaner more just world. Our lives are enriched, by being in touch with the restorative powers of the natural world. Being in nature, sometimes called eco or green therapy, is an effective way to reduce depression.

Hope lies not in Pollyanna false positivity; but in realistic appraisal and action. Many are grieving the environmental chaos that is now bringing disaster and loss for Australians. Grief is appropriate and healthy. Stoknes contends that the process of mourning can lead to deep recognition of the value of life and of nature.

We have seen houses and farm animals swept away and devastating coastal erosion. Extreme floods droughts and fires are bringing loss of habitat and threatening unique Australian species. These are the warning calls from planet earth. Nature and the human spirit are resilient; but healing and renewal need nurturance.

Drawing on Jungian and eco psychology Stoknes asks, "What is the bleaching Great Barrier Reef saying to us?" I in turn wonder what the 130 year old trees on Anzac Parade Sydney, were saying as they were felled mercilessly? What are the oceans telling us as they regurgitate plastic and vomit our rubbish onto beaches?

Mother Earth is weeping, spewing and raging. We had better pay attention!

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Lyn Bender Psychologist