Juno News - “Climate anxiety”

00:00:00.000 You may be aware that a couple of weeks ago the CBC announced that they are going to do even more

00:00:04.940 climate change journalism because climate change is defining every aspect of our lives and the

00:00:10.360 planet is changing. So the CBC is committing to more hard-hitting climate journalism. One of the

00:00:18.620 examples of this new hard-hitting climate journalism is this piece. My climate anxiety

00:00:26.120 has turned me into a trash hoarder. It's a first-person essay written by a Toronto man

00:00:32.880 who orders too much takeout and then keeps the containers in his house and he claims he has

00:00:38.580 climate anxiety. I have a problem throwing away takeout containers, he writes. You might be familiar

00:00:45.440 with them, especially with the pandemic. They're rectangular black plastic containers with a clear

00:00:50.480 plastic lid, usually adorned with some restaurant brand sticker. These containers are food safe,

00:00:56.460 microwave friendly, easily stackable, and sturdy blah blah blah blah. One problem, they're not

00:01:02.180 recyclable. So first of all, I think it's best that we assume that no plastic is truly food safe

00:01:11.820 and no plastic is truly microwave friendly. But anyways, the author goes on to talk about the

00:01:18.360 other ways in which his anxiety manifests, which is by stuffing plastic bags in his closet.

00:01:26.540 But you know, doesn't every household have a plastic bag full of plastic bags?

00:01:30.780 I think this is a very normal human behavior. I think we're seeing this author of the CBC piece,

00:01:38.680 he's one of these kind of millennial Gen Z people who has a tendency to pathologize everything that they

00:01:44.700 do when really it's just normal behavior. Anyway, so he then talks about how he has too many

00:01:51.760 sauce cups in his fridge from his takeout, his takeout orders. But at least he uses toothpaste capsules

00:02:00.940 instead of toothpaste from a tube. And he uses laundry strips instead of laundry detergent from a

00:02:08.160 plastic container. And kudos to him for that. The conclusion of the piece is that this man doesn't

00:02:16.940 really know what he should do about his problem. And he feels very burdened by these takeout containers.

00:02:23.540 So I don't want to be a negative Nelly here. So let's see the positive in this piece. He's being

00:02:29.300 relatable. You know, in general, we all feel like we could do better when it comes to pollution and our

00:02:35.560 impact on the earth. You know, for me, I feel like I could be more diligent, um, when going to a cafe,

00:02:42.700 I need to remember to bring my reusable cup. Sometimes I'm not very diligent about that. So that's one

00:02:48.720 area where I could improve. So I get that this man is trying to be relatable with this, um, CBC op-ed,

00:02:58.180 but, uh, yeah, otherwise the article is just useless pontification. But what I do think is worth

00:03:05.480 talking about is this concept of climate anxiety. It has definitely popped up over the last couple

00:03:11.420 years. Uh, last year, there was a study that came out saying one in five British children have

00:03:17.860 nightmares about climate change. So, um, these children are so impacted by the climate hysteria

00:03:24.480 around them that they're suffering from nightmares. There was a survey done of 10,000 16 to 25 year

00:03:32.040 olds around the world where 60% of respondents said that they felt very worried or extremely

00:03:38.420 worried about climate change. And 45% said that the feelings of anxiousness and sadness impacted

00:03:46.020 their daily lives. And we know more and more young people are saying, uh, they don't want to

00:03:50.540 have children because of climate change. Now I'm not entirely convinced that this is fully

00:03:57.140 their, their reason for not wanting to have children. I think they probably don't want to

00:04:00.940 have children for lifestyle reasons. And, um, but they bring up the climate as kind of a socially

00:04:06.860 conscious answer. Um, if someone asks them why they don't want children, but it is a reason

00:04:13.840 that people are bringing up, that young people are bringing up more and more. And, you know,

00:04:17.540 these children are being repeatedly told in the media at school everywhere that the planet

00:04:23.940 is burning and sea levels are rising and we're about to face unprecedented natural disasters

00:04:29.860 and humanity is doomed. And so, you know, many children and teenagers and even adults, I suppose,

00:04:35.880 are reporting that eco anxiety is causing them to be depressed and panicked and chronically

00:04:41.940 fearful. Now I totally don't relate to this sentiment. In my daily life, I feel no climate anxiety.

00:04:50.980 Um, I sometimes experience disgust when I witness other people over consuming, but that doesn't

00:04:58.600 manifest as anxiety. As for me, I like paper straws. I don't eat meat. Uh, I buy everything I can

00:05:06.460 secondhand. I am a user of public transit. I barely ever fly anywhere. I try to buy as little as I can

00:05:15.680 in general. So, you know, I'm not saying all this to make myself sound superior. I think we all know

00:05:21.140 that discussions of, um, the environment and, and being green can get annoying really quickly. Um, there's

00:05:29.840 just something kind of inherently annoying about it, I guess. But I'm just saying that I am someone who cares

00:05:35.020 deeply about the health of the planet, the health of the creatures that inhabit the planet. And I don't

00:05:43.160 find climate anxiety to be a productive or relevant sentiment to have. Now I want to go over three cop

00:05:49.940 out phrases that the leftist socialist environmentalist types use. The first is they'll say something like

00:05:57.360 individual actions like turning off your lights and recycling are not enough anymore, because we have

00:06:03.840 a problem of systemic institutions. And we need to dismantle and change those systemic institutions.

00:06:11.460 Um, it's even better when they, they tie in climate justice with racial justice and decolonization and 0.56

00:06:17.800 patriarchy. So then they argue that we need to dismantle racism in order to improve carbon emissions and

00:06:24.140 whatever. So sure, I believe that there are some large systems that are going to be hard to change, such as the

00:06:31.540 way Canadian cities are designed. The way most Canadian cities are designed, cities and towns is absolutely

00:06:39.960 shameful. I mean, I think about where I live, and it's just all these plazas that are parking lots

00:06:47.940 with stores on the outline of the parking lot. And that's the destination. That's the plaza.

00:06:54.320 It's essentially a parking lot with a couple shops around it. It's ugly. It's shameful. It's a shameful use

00:07:03.780 of land. But, you know, we can tackle this while also taking into account that our individual actions

00:07:15.220 do still matter. Another cop out is when the leftist types say that they are experiencing paralysis from

00:07:22.120 climate anxiety. So they can't do anything about it because they are literally paralyzed from the fear

00:07:27.240 and trauma. Um, this was, you know, something that was brought up in that CBC op-ed. So sure, I mean,

00:07:34.220 you can experience that for a little bit of time, I guess, but you are going to need to get over it.

00:07:39.560 And thirdly, one of the left's favorite phrases is, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

00:07:47.120 So they will justify their bad habits, such as buying from cheap fast fashion brands,

00:07:55.060 or throwing away two plastic iced coffee cups a day. Um, because, you know, there's just no ethical

00:08:02.440 consumption under capitalism anyway. And if we can't dismantle the whole system, then what's the

00:08:08.600 use in trying to be incrementally more environmentally responsible? Because, uh, the whole system is

00:08:14.440 screwed. So why even try? So I'm really not a fan of this phrase that there's no ethical consumption

00:08:20.620 under capitalism. I think it's used as a cop out, but you can see how these three ideas are interlinked

00:08:26.880 as well. And of course, right now, the COP26 UN climate change conference is occurring in Scotland.

00:08:33.940 And we learned that 400 private jets flew into the conference carrying world leaders that are

00:08:40.340 attending this summit, and that the carbon emissions from these flights for this one conference were

00:08:47.240 equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of over 1,500 regular Scotland citizens. So, you know,

00:08:54.980 personally, I don't regard any of the people attending this UN conference to be global climate leaders.

00:09:01.760 Um, I think that's kind of laughable. You know, if you're like me, and you live a minimalist,

00:09:09.840 low impact, conscious lifestyle, you are already more of a friend to the environment than Justin

00:09:18.060 Trudeau ever will be, than Joe Biden ever will be. Um, you know, than any of these COP26 global elite

00:09:25.820 jet setters. So, give yourself some credit. Um, you don't need to have climate anxiety.

00:09:33.040 Just focus on gradually making lifestyle improvements, like moving away from plastics,

00:09:39.660 or running that errand you need to do by bike or by bus. Um, and when you do that, when you,

00:09:46.380 when you gradually make those changes, there is no need to pathologize your existence,

00:09:51.780 and there is no need to be paralyzed by climate anxiety. I'm Lindsay Shepard with True North.

00:09:58.700 Thanks so much for watching. If you like our coverage and commentary here at True North,

00:10:03.500 please consider visiting donate.tnc.news and supporting us. Bye for now.

Juno News - November 04, 2021

“Climate anxiety”

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