Global Crisis & Climate Change Anxiety, Climate Grief, Eco-Anxiety Counselling London & Online
Social Dysfunction & Impact Of World Events Not only do we affect the external world, but the external world impacts on us, where the unstable world can affect our own stability, mental health. Alongside uncertainty we can experience existential loneliness, alienation, experience part of a collective, universal sadness. Interrelated events in the world can be experienced as turbulent - undergoing a critical and unpredictable phase, symptomised through climate change, environmental breakdown. The term "polycrisis" (coined by French philosopher Edgar Morin) refers to multiple, interconnected complex situations, which amplify each other impacting upon a global crisis, and this can be too vast for many of us to grasp (see also What Else Might Be Going On That We, Society Don't Act, Change?). Alongside climate change, the impact of wars, where military might, nuclear weapons can destroy the planet, migration, misuse of artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, genetic engineering, pandemics can be considered part of the polycrisis we are experiencing. It is argued that other factors also contribute to major world events, environmental breakdown, global crisis, including:
- Overlooking, that land gives us life and we co-create it
- Many beliefs, assumptions, systems and practices, alongside omnipotent thinking may be counterproductive to civilisation thriving, evolving
- We may be grieving humanity and unbalanced, unnatural and disrespectful ways of living, lack of collective responsibility, global cooperation in psychologically dysfunctional societies, unsustainable social structures rooted in power dynamics in an inherently win/lose way of living, where economic imbalance and profit, unhealthy competition is unaligned to global and human needs, or a softer, yet powerful, way of living
- Political crisis, including populism (e.g. soundbites, views, which on the surface sound simple and good), or personalities over policies that bring people together & excessive pride, unsustainable political systems - the way we treat the planet (or in democracies, traditional left and right politics) - see also New Paradigms Within Local & Global Politics
- Authoritarian leaders
- Dystopian systems of conflict, control, oppression
- Short-termism & lack of immediate & long term, sustainable action
- Polarisation - thinking in absolutes
- Social injustice, collective narcissism and individualism, that harms other people and the planet, and is out of tune with community, the wider world, interdependence, interconnectedness
- Dominant voices, which exclude marginalised others (see also Identities, Labels & Conditions)
- Power imbalance, resulting in separation, alienation from the world's dominant forces
- Materialistic selfishness, rampant consumerism & the downside of neoliberalism, capitalism, especially if it lacks transparency
- Financial institutions, economic growth dominate, where a one-size-fits-all "expert" system, denies local knowledge, ancient wisdoms of indigenous people who centuries ago realised we are all connected, acknowledged the consciousness of the planet and made no separation between mind, body, earth, which got lost in the name of "progress" (The botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer writes how indigenous cultures don't recognise land ownership, we may ask who owns the earth or are we custodians of it)
- That big business is not always on-board, because climate crisis is not always just another business opportunity
- Living in a world of half-truths, distorted, manipulative reporting (e.g. carbon offsetting can look impressive only on paper, camouflaging meaningless, placatory soundbited targets, which are modest and ineffective decades ahead, distorting statistics, how countries, companies try to show how carbon neutral they are and what a great job they are doing, yet meanwhile the earth speaks a different language, tells us something different and there is a disconnection between the two, symptomised by the planet's sickness)
- Economic systems, which are no longer fit for purpose (e.g. GDP at the cost of prioritising people's, earth's wellbeing, that they are globalised often interconnected financial systems, which don't recognise international borders, yet not an interconnected, coherent globalised response to the planet - which doesn't recognise borders, nor selfish, national interests)
- Commodification of land - land grabbing, land buyoffs leading to people's dispossession, where corporate policymakers ensure global food prices are subject to stock market fluctuations
- Dysfunctional money management, fractional reserve banking - loaning money that doesn't exist, qualitative easing - the artificial printing of money, money obsession, individual & collective greed, financial wealth preoccupation
- How technological forces are reshaping social cohesion (e.g. biased, unregulated algorithms, artificial intelligence - AI)
- We, others, the world may be affected by injustice, social inequality, values system in society, that just aren't fit for purpose, alongside globalisation, privatisation of state assets
Contacting The Counsellor in London Feel free to ring for an initial chat 020 7916 1342 or email me to arrange a meeting at my London counselling practice based in Camden, near Kings Cross. As well as in-person counselling I can offer Skype counselling, online counselling as another option.
For full details about climate change or eco-anxiety therapy and the Counselling for climate grief in London, Camden, Kings Cross service, my desktop website refers
