The Real World

It is interesting to go back and look at these posts following the class discussions and reflect on how my perspectives on the readings have evolved.   Today we move away from fear and towards loss.  I can accept the notion that we need to come to grips with the fact that the world as we know it is going to change.  I’m not sure I like the description provided by McKibben (2010) who states that this is going to happen in “hideous and damaging ways,” but it is a distinct possibility.  Mckibben asserts that the first step is to “get real,” an assertion that is echoed by Moser (2012).

Is the promise of a better tomorrow an empty promise?  Perhaps it is time that we accept the mortality of our (Western Culture) way of life.  I can sort of relate to the perspective presented by Moser (2012) in that I am not the best flyer in the world, in fact I tend to adopt a rather fatalistic attitude while trapped 30 thousand feet in the air inside a thinly walled aluminium tube filled with fuel.  BUT, I think that in the unlikely event of an uncontrolled decent, I would be able to remain calm and accept the inevitable loss that was quickly approaching.  Maybe as Meadows (1997) states I would be able to remain grounded in my familiar anger and act as a positive agent of change (but would likely run out of time).

I think it’s true that we have a tendency in Western Culture to be uncomfortable with grief.  Maybe we need to soak in it for a while as a collective?  “When loss remains unspoken, neither grieved nor worked through, then change and adjustment cannot follow” (Moser 2012, p. 119).  We focus so much on fear, and that fear builds rigidity, whereas loss, according to Moser (2012), brings about a sense of acceptance and the ability to move forward.  Are we afraid to take the message all the way?  Then again, maybe Moser is overestimating our predictive powers, or maybe I’m just in denial.

The section on leaders was thought provoking.  Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear a political leader speak to a real issue in the absence ideological clichés?

Perhaps we do not, as Gord Downie sings, “Live to survive our paradoxes,” but rather live to hold our paradoxes in tension.  The practical realities of life and the vision of systemic change (Moser, 2012) particularly resonated with me.  While on the topic of music, I agree with Klein (1940/1975) that “much creative and artistic work stems from the need for reparation.”  I have certainly found that music sounds a little richer, art looks a little more beautiful and wine tastes a little fuller when you allow yourself to come to terms with loss.

I find it hard to imagine loss; it is not an emotion that can easily be evoked in advance.  Climate change is steeped language that speaks to the future.  Randall (2009) expands on this in describing  the split off and projection into the future of fear over loss regarding climate change.  “The present continues to feel safe, but at the expense of the future becoming terrifying” (p. 120).

I enjoyed the words of Worden in the Randall (2009) paper that spoke to the necessity to accept loss, but at the same time offer hope.  “Life will never be the same again, but meaning may be restored and it may become possible to flourish once more” (p. 121).

Randall, R. (2009). Loss and climate change: the cost of parallel narratives. Ecopsychology, 1(3), 118-129.
Moser, S. (2012). Getting Real About It: Meeting the Psychological and Social Demands of a World in Distress. In Gallagher et al (eds.), Sage reference handbook of environmental leadership. Sage Publications.