Looking for hope in a time of climate crisis
The word might be falling out of currency, but when I was growing up people with unjustifiably optimistic attitudes were called Pollyannas and it wasn't a compliment. Hope is an optimistic state of mind, based in the belief of the potential for good to happen. Now more than ever we need to pull together to tackle global climate change challenges. Given the fractured state of the world and with the COP27 climate summit having limped to a disappointing close, is a hopeful outlook realistic or possible, even? I asked Kiwis at the conservation and climate frontline, and discovered some surprising things about hope. Dare to look around and theres certainly plenty to get sad or mad about. Todays climate change news can feel like a rolling maul of catastrophe. There are record-breaking milestones of the worst things: like deforestation, animal habitat and species loss. And on the human front just as many heart-wrenching stories as peoples lives are upended by droughts, famines, floods and fires. READ MORE: * Ghanaian girl cuts through jargon, tells COP27 delegates to 'have a heart' * COP27 outcome: Fossil fuel progress criticised, historic climate fund cheered * Not just a phase: How Gen Z is changing climate politics * Ecotherapy: Mental health and the climate crisis * Lessons in catastrophe: How schools can help take the fear out of climate change In short, it can all be a major downer. But dont beat yourself up if thinking about this stuff makes you feel angry or panicked eco-anxiety is not a sign youre going crackers, but a completely rational response to a very real, existential threat, say Australian Psychological Society experts. For Kenya Ashcroft, this means getting out of the city sprawl and into the bush to resensitise myself to nature, and fall back in love with the ecosystems I first wanted to study and help protect. Ashcroft has been engaged in a number of conservation and activism projects dating from planting with Trees for Survival as a seven-year-old. As a teen she sailed to the Kermadec Islands with Blake NZ and while studying environmental management and geographic information systems at the University of Otago, she was active with Animal Aquatic Plant Ecological Society (AAPES) and other groups. Political action as a young person fronting up to local council can be pretty discouraging, says Ashcroft. A lot of environmental news and what you learn in class can also leave you feeling quite desensitised. One thing that helps to avoid activism burnout is to get involved with restoration projects, go tramping in places like the Catlins or Rakiura or even just to visit a patch of urban bush. Being hopeful isnt about putting our heads in the sand, denying scientific reality or pretending terrible stuff isnt happening. But a hope that acknowledges reality and that gives rise to action can offer a way through eco-anxiety and out the other side. Its an important distinction, and one that Peter Skilling, a senior lecturer in Management at AUT University has been studying closely. A hope that acknowledges reality and that gives rise to action is what enables us to grapple with the realities of the climate crisis without being overcome with despair, he says. A specialist in business ethics and sustainability, Skilling and colleagues have developed a practical framework to help teachers and their students deal with the emotional roller-coaster of studying environmental degradation and the projected consequences of climate change. Environmental statistics have been grim in recent years, and the lecturers realised this was contributing to a pervasive eco-anxiety amongst students, and their own tension between presenting students with a realistic view of the future, and maintaining a sense of hope and agency. Despite their best intentions, they acknowledged the tendency to avoid engaging with students, and their own, challenging emotional responses. Its tricky territory to navigate. Research suggests when hope doesnt acknowledge how bad things are, or hope is not accompanied by action, it can lead to even greater anxiety and despair when people realise how serious things are. At its simplest, the framework developed at AUT is a roadmap starting with students gaining an awareness of environmental problems, and ending with students engaged, alongside teachers, businesses and other community members, in relatively complex sustainability initiatives. Along the way, validation of difficult emotions, reflection and critical analysis are used to help students to progress from apathy or despair, and to build from easily achievable actions, towards projects with potential to make a tangible difference. Its something we see our students go through, says Skilling. When they hear about the severity of environmental crises they go right down, so offering them concrete ways of responding is really helpful, even if those things are small-scale. Our bigger challenge is thinking about the sorts of action that lead to meaningful change. Uncertainty about the future can led us to feel anxious. It can also make space for hope. Hope is a really complex emotion. Its not just a complacent optimism. When we hope for something, our desired outcome is possible, but not guaranteed. This uncertainty can lead to anxiety as well as hope, says Skilling. In a way, hope is the opposite of certainty in that, if we know something is going to happen we dont need to hope for it. Like the glass half full approach, hope helps set the tone of the story we tell ourselves. This can help tough situations be more bearable in the moment, but also, imagining a better future can motivate us to take necessary steps to make change happen. As the proverb puts it; Kotahi te kakano whakaaro, he nui nga hua o te rakau houhou rongo / One seed of thought grows the forest of peace. Some jobs take you to dire places. For Grant Bayldon, National Director for World Vision New Zealand, this has included some of the worlds largest and most densely populated refugee settlements, including the humanitarian disaster zone of South Sudan, the Rohingya refugee settlement in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar region, and along the Lebanon, Syrian border, where a brutal, decade-long conflict has forced an estimated 1.5 million Syrians from their homes. This year has seen the worlds worst hunger crisis in a century, driven largely by conflict, the pandemic and made infinitely worse by environmental breakdown and the climate crisis. I've been to some places that, on the face of it, are pretty hopeless, says Bayldon. When you get there you find things are really tough, but its in the darkest places where the light shines brightest, and even in those places people are doing some amazing things. What I see is people who haven't given up hope. Theyre trying to change things for the better, theyre focused on their children, the people around them and the next generation. I see hope rather than despair. Bayldon adds: Do I feel hopeful? Yes absolutely. For me, its a choice. I also see it in the people who support the work we do. To have hope is to want something to happen and to imagine that its possible. But it cant just stop there. To be effective to make us feel better hope needs to translate into some kind of action. Its not enough to care or be sympathetic, the point is to do something to make a difference, says Bayldon. The privilege we enjoy in New Zealand means we can do a huge amount to save lives, improve the environment and support people who are facing the worst impacts of climate change. The climate crisis drives a lot of conflict and famine, especially in areas of the world where deforestation and encroaching desert means land is degraded to the point where its unable to support livelihoods. Bayldon says one way positive change can be made is by supporting people to restore the tree cover in lands that have been degraded. Below ground, the roots of a forest are like a mirror of what is above the ground. By actively managing re-growth and seedlings, land that was once becoming desert can be turned green again. In places like Niger and Ethiopia, this has multiple benefits for communities, improving soil, aiding water retention, and enabling crops to be grown. Reforestation work supported by World Vision over the last 20 years in those places has restored millions of hectares of land in a regenerative mixed native forest and grazing model, with an aim of reaching a billion hectares by 2030. This not only helps local communities, it acts like a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking carbon out of the atmosphere, says Bayldon. Hopeful stories inspire us to believe in a better tomorrow. Sign an online petition, donate to a charitable cause, eat leftovers for lunch, ride your bike to the shops, or catch the bus to work, instead of driving. Whether your actions are big or small, every day presents opportunities to do something. It's our choice what we do with that. We dont know what will happen in the future, but as writer Rebecca Solnit puts it: In the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. Is humanity smart enough or do we care enough to save ourselves and others? You have to hope so.