Resource
Perhaps Emma Marris (2019) summarises Problem Hope/despair Possibilities
these considerations well. She argues that a pretty good future is still achievable, but even the best-case future will be diff erent from the past. Old dichotomies will break down and we must be prepared for diff erence to achieve realistic hope. Perhaps we just need to check in with our hope. Is it the realistic kind; the useful kind?
The language of activism On an additional note, the use of
Restraint Figure 2
scientifi c predictions, diffi cult social change and chaos are inevitable. Within this radical acceptance, it emphasises grief and mourning as a route to deep personal adaptation. Bendell uses the metaphor of coming to accept the diagnosis of a terminal illness: instead of desperately hoping that the medical information is wrong, and the doctors have made a mistake, acceptance opens space to consider what kind of fi ve years you may want to live. Letting in despair can open space for new beginnings, and a new kind of hope. This idea invites us to think about when despair might be useful; when its presence allows room for a ‘realistic hope’ beyond a ‘false hope’. In regards to change processes, the climate movement wants us to sit with the uncomfortable feelings the facts leave us with and to deconstruct them, to establish the desire, motivation and readiness for change, before moving to the positions of mobilisation, hope and optimism. Only by allowing ourselves to fully connect with the despair can we experience the transformation to a realistic and useful kind of hope. Instead of creating false hope, Hickman (2019) encourages us to stay with the pain and deepen psychologically – grow down into a deeper capacity to engage with painful things. This can be thought of as a ‘waking up’,
rather than a ‘giving up’. As I think about this, I am drawn to the image of a phoenix: if we radically accept the science, let it in, let it burn down all of our current aspirations based upon an outdated view of the world that does not take into consideration the changes already befalling our planet and
16
eco systems, what might emerge from the ashes? I want people to feel depressed about
climate change. This is about getting away from the heroic ‘let’s save the planet’, and a call to look under the surface, go within, to be refl ective, to feel sadness, and loss, and despair and grief, because these feelings hold transformative possibilities for us (Burke, cited in Coward, 2019, p. 17). Back to our problems, possibilities,
resources and restraints quadrant, if we can consider despair as a resource and possibility, when, how or why can hope be problematic or restraining? In the words of Greta Thunberg (2019, p.
24):
Adults keep saying: ‘We owe it to the young people to give them hope’. But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fi re. Because it is. Too much hope can be problematic
if it leads to denial, ignorance, inertia or inaction. It has been seen to drive green aggression and vitriol, and can be considered a weak response; intellectually, emotionally and therapeutically. Hope can of course be a resource and create possibility when it encourages people to make positive changes, and drives ambition to become creative about how to tackle the issue or problem solve some of the biggest dilemmas.
language is a central tenet to our thinking in systemic psychotherapy. Many climate activists and groups have called for us to pay attention to our use of language, and most importantly to call the situation what it is, a crisis, an emergency. Let us not downplay the situation by using language that allows us to believe there is any ambiguity or room for delay in our response.
Closing thoughts We have choice. We can sleepwalk
further into the anthropocene, or we can be dragged; kicking and screaming. We can connect. We can resist. We are being invited to accept
the science; to process the facts and predictions; to go on to sit alongside others whilst they process it. In the same way we expect trainees to
work on their psychotherapy process when they are training in order to understand their own issues that might get in the way and infl uence the nature of their relationship with clients . . . therapists must fi rst understand their own anxiety about the climate crisis to help clients (Hickman & Staunton, 2019). Hickman and Staunton go on to advise
that, within this process, we retain our compassion. They warn us not to demonise those at the beginning of their journeys, including those still in denial of the scientifi c projections, and ultimately remind us to have compassion for the denial within ourselves. My invitation for this new decade is to
fi nd your despair, fi nd your hope, and fi nd your direction, at a time when it is so easy to feel lost.
References Guterres, A. (2018) Address to United Nations Security Council on Corruption in Confl ict,
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/ statement/2018-09-10/secretary-generals- remarks-climate-change-delivered (accessed 03.03.20).
Context 170, August 2020
Exploring human and societal connection to the climate crisis through the lens of systemic theory
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