Ways to turn the negative energy around ‘eco-anxiety’ into positive action – from Carbon Savvy:
Areas of response – ability
In 11-aside football, whether the team is winning or losing, each player can only play their part of the field – defenders focus on defending, and strikers stay forward, ready to score. To play well you need to play your part and not that of others. At Carbon Savvy we think it’s the same with carbon saving – each of us needs to focus on playing our part, and allow others to play theirs. Reducing our own footprint by 8% per year is the extent of our responsibility – anything we do beyond that is extra. And knowing you are fully playing your part is one aspect of reducing eco-anxiety.
Be the change you want to see
Our immediate experience of the world is through our own lives. When we experience our own lives changing we feel how the whole world can change and that gives us hope. Of course there is also a knock-on effect – when you take carbon saving actions for a year or so we believe you’ll find several people you know will have taken actions inspired by you. It may not be those closest to you or those you expect! But experiencing our own world changing is an important way to reduce eco-anxiety.
Why a greener lifestyle can be good for peace of mind
Many actions that save CO2 also have a good effect on our physical and mental health: Taking additional exercise, using quality long-lasting products and eating local, seasonal fruit and veg can all have a positive effect on our health and wellbeing. This in turn contributes to reducing eco-anxiety.
Optimistic Outlooks
Reminding ourselves regularly of positive actions already taking place, and the potential of large scale solutions also lifts our spirits. Unfortunately, the news often focuses on what’s going wrong, so it can help to be aware of the effect of information on our state of mind – our information diet is a bit like our food diet. Here are some encouraging facts:
1: Expanding seaweed farms to cover 9% of the world’s oceans could absorb a trillion tonnes of CO2 between now and 2050.
2: Adopting low carbon farming techniques across the globe will absorb upwards of 30% of current CO2 emissions.
3: Becoming more energy efficient in the key areas of transport, heating, food and products is technically relatively easy because we are currently so energy wasteful.
4: The UK government is focussed on rapidly decarbonising the electricity grid to make it carbon neutral.
5: The UK targets of 78% carbon reductions by 2035 and net zero by 2050 are legally binding.
The future is the result of our collective actions. Taking responsibility for our own part is a genuine way to alleviate eco anxiety. It also feels surprisingly good to know you are part of the change.