Are we all losing it?

(But not dealing with that loss?)

Our readings and class around loss were heavy.  The notion of loss is such a powerful and personal thing, and the authors we have been reading are presenting very interesting concepts about the loss that we will feel from climate change, as well as the loss that society will experience as a result of taking action on climate change.  They are addressing the need to acknowledge these feelings of loss and to work through them as a society.

And on the same evening I read an article that got me thinking about nature, and healing the loss that they are talking about.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1212364--from-gloom-to-gladness-the-future-of-environmentalism#.T96MERZ51HA.facebook

It was uplifting to me because it got me thinking about the idea of nature as healing, and perhaps using nature as a way to help process, heal and accept the pain that is being felt due to a loss of either other natural areas, or personal ways of life that are required to change.  Perhaps there is a way for natural areas to replace the material needs that we are all so attached to.  And perhaps there is a way for nature to provide a place for mourning of other natural areas, thus helping with the grief and loss attached to losing our special places in nature.  If our lifestyles have to dramatically change, maybe there will be more time to spend outdoors and in nature, and that time will be part of the healing process from the loss that we will inevitably experience.

Louv and Suzuki address the healing potential of nature in a line that I particularly enjoyed in the article.

"As these two environmental pioneers parleyed, it became clear that an environmental agenda centering chiefly on conservation, government policy and an urgent, doom-laden, sword-of-Damocles advocacy was quietly morphing into one focused on relationships, children, education, wonder, joy and the healing power of nature."

This quote brings up another author that we have been reading in class - David Orr.  David Orr is one of my environmental idols.  He tells it like it is, but he retains an element of hopefulness and sees the value in painting a positive vision of the future that we want. When he describes the future it can sound like a utopia or a nirvana, but in actual fact it is not.  It is a description of a potential future that is completely doable with the resources (both human and other) that we currently have on the planet.  It seems that in this article Louv and Suzuki are echoing Orr's philosophy around how to present these issues to the public and what areas to focus on.

"Citing Martin Luther King, Louv states, “Any cultural movement will fail if it can’t paint a picture of a world where people want to go to.” Louv is gravely concerned about the rash of popular, post-apocalyptic cultural images of the future. If, when we think of the future, we only envision some “Blade Runner-Mad Max-Hunger Games scenario,” Louv comments, “we are in real trouble.” Such a post-apocalyptic framing of the future, he fears, is almost as great a threat as climate change."

I tend to agree... and while I do believe that it is very important that feelings of loss, grief and anxiety be addressed both individually and societally, I worry that if we choose to dwell on the more negative aspects of our situation we will get stuck there.  I don't like the distinction of solutions vs. problems as it is a bit too simplistic.  I don't think that we have to solely look at either of those things, but I also don't think that we just need to look at them together.  I think that we need a whole new "thing" to look at.  And the concept of a strong vision as presented by Orr, as well as by Louv and Suzuki in this G&M article could be that thing.  We need to imagine the future that we want, and then set to work at getting there.  I will quote the description that Orr used of the future, and you can tell me if you think its worth fighting for!

"It has front porches; public parks; local businesses; windmills and solar collectors; local farms and better food; better woodlots and forests; local employment; more bike trails; summer sports leagues; community theaters; better poetry; neighborhood book clubs; bowling leagues; better schools; vibrant and robust down- towns with sidewalk cafes and great pubs serving microbrews; more kids playing outdoors; fewer freeways, shopping malls, and sprawl; less tele- vision; and no more wars for oil or anything else." (Orr, 2007)




Orr, D. W. (2007). Optimism and Hope in a Hotter Time. Conservation Biology, Conservation in Context, 21(6), 1392–1395. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00836.