Combat Eco-anxiety
I wrote this essay in september 2021 for a dutch online spiritual magazine.
We are all being asked to live more sustainably, we want to, because we know it is more important now than ever. But what exactly is sustainability, how do you do it and most importantly, how do you not fall into the much dreaded eco anxiety?
First, let's look at what sustainability actually is. According to the dictionaires, the word sustainable has three meanings:
long-lasting: a lasting peace. A sustainable ecosystem is indefinitely diverse, productive and therefore healthy.
little subject to wear or decay: oak wood is durable. But products that last a long time are also sustainable in other ways:
low impact on the environment: renewable energy, sustainable manufacturing. A product that is not detrimental to the larger system from production to disposal as waste is a sustainable product.
In other words, developments, actions and products that contribute to a healthy earth with all its inhabitants and ecosystems are, at their core, sustainable. They ensure that the needs of the current generation, people on the other side of the world as well as those of future generations can be met.
For the past few centuries, we have felt like kings. We have lived as if we lived on an infinitely overflowing world. The economy, our wealth and our pile of stuff could keep growing without end. But as it turns out, the earth can only provide a certain amount of materials and space. We suddenly realise: on our earth, growth cannot go on forever and it has to stop at some point.
And that moment is now very close. Indeed, as humanity, we are at a point where, with our drive for growth and possessiveness, we have driven the other millions of creatures living here with us to the far corners of the globe. We are rapidly taking away their food sources and living space for our own benefit. We thought that was okay, but in doing so we have apparently made our own home, our earth, sick: its balance is completely gone.
As you let this reality get to you, it is almost impossible not to become overwhelmed and depressed. This feeling of helplessness has a name: eco anxiety. Whole groups of people feel paralysed by the fear of the doomsday scenario presented to us. If you look at the problem globally, it is also too big to comprehend. This can make you think that as a little me, there is nothing you can do about it, with the result that you then take precisely no steps to improve the climate. If we want to walk around on this planet any longer, it is important to look that fear in the eye and turn it into action.
My first big step towards a more sustainable life was realising that everything is interconnected. That sometimes my small actions can have big, even negative, consequences. I came across the books of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, in which he talked about inter-being. By this term, inter-being, he was referring to the chain by which everything on earth works together. Also Gary Ferguson talks about this in his book The Eight Master Lessons of Nature. They made me realise that the bread I bought in the supermarket was preceded by a whole series of actions, not only of humans, but also of our earth. And this made me realise how important my small actions were: I could choose to buy bread that did bad or that did good. I chose the latter.
But you don't have to be a Buddhist monk or an ardent champion of a better environment to still live more sustainably. A more sustainable life starts with the realisation that your well-being is tied to the well-being of another and that you take responsibility for that.
I decided to buy more and more things that did good, that did good to me because their energy, their chain consisted only of good steps. And then I thought not only of the children in the chocolate plantations, but also of the monkeys in the jungle, the ancient trees and the water in our seas. I entered into a different relationship with the whole system, I felt a part: an important part.
By seeing the interconnection between the parts of the system and taking your role in it, you also give yourself a sense of power again. You know that positive behaviour has a reaction to the whole and ensures the well-being of everything around you.
So sustainable living starts with yourself, but how do you do it? How do you crawl out of the feeling of eco anxiety and take action? Sustainable living costs money, but it is money that pays off in the end. Sustainable living takes time, because you have to do more yourself and less on autopilot.
The first and easiest step towards a sustainable life is to actively reconnect with the earth, with the ecological system.
You make this connection by becoming aware of your surroundings, by seeing the magic in the little things, by learning to love the world again. Even when things are not so good, especially when things are not so good. Because what you love you want to protect, you don't want to exploit and dominate, you want to let it grow in all its beauty.
"Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet." - Thich Nhat Hanh
How I did that? By mindful walking. By mindfully taking a walk around the neighbourhood, the nearby forest or, as I did, in another, to me, unknown ecosystem high in the mountains. Mindfulness lowers your stress and worries, but in addition, by paying mindful attention to where you put your feet, you tread the earth with love.
Your feet kiss the earth.
I challenge you to go for a mindful walk once a week, to enjoy the connection with the earth, that blade of grass between the paving stones, that little wild bush on the corner and that row of birds on the fence.
I challenge you to see the earth as a whole, as a living creature and learn to love it again.
Love,
Daphne