Climate Anxiety and Existential Dread in 2022
Since the initial shut down of the Vancouver entertainment industry in March 2020 for SARS-CoV-2, I reconsidered my job within the film industry. Instead of working on television shows worrying whether the curtains match the sofa, I now write eco-documentaries and articles with my life and business partner, Blake.
Digging into the history of BC’s environmental impact of our mere 150 years of intense settler colonization, the research has shone a light on the deep and terrifying feelings I’ve had since I was coming into my teens. I realized I had anxiety over something I could see so clearly but had no control over humanity’s impact on the environment, resulting in steadily worsening climate change. The scientific papers, theses, historical records, and archival photographs all showed direct and indirect links between our actions and the myriad of once-in-a-lifetime events that I have witnessed since I can remember.
I recall hearing Tony Parsons speaking in his deadpan voice about a marvel of human achievement on the news. A few years later, he would be talking about an environmental disaster that suspiciously coincided with the achievement previously celebrated. He would report about new oil deposits discovered and then a massive oil spill years later in the same area leading to the Gulf War (Erickson and King). We laud over stories about new agricultural sprays developed by leading biotech companies. These sprays have killed the soil and have negatively affected human health (Schulte). One-moment forestry is booming, and the next, we see an infestation of pine beetles. Big industries continue to illegally lobby the government and maintain their power to spin disasters so the economic machines can continue “innovating” (Goldberg and Vandenberg).
When I realized what I was feeling was anxiety about the human-caused environmental disaster, I started looking it up on the internet to see if there was anything I could use to bring up with my therapist. And there it was, an entirely new phycological category for my generation: climate anxiety. I wasn’t alone. Google searches for climate anxiety between October 2020 and October 2021 increased by about 565% (Wilkinson and Wray). A whopping 88% of Canadians (Vitello) and 70% of Americans (Leiserowitz et al.) admit climate change has impacted their lives. However, only 18% of Canadians engage in unpaid activities that help curb climate change (Government of Canada).
Like others who grew up in this era, they have a profound and lasting mental anguish, including distrust of the system and depersonalization of fear (Summersett). I ended up having a conversation with my dad about this, and he compared it to the stress and anxiety he felt as a child during the Cold War. He heard the news pushing the fear of being bombed; he believed there was no future. He managed to persevere despite the threatening news cycles, but not without scars.
In our most formative years, my generation learned about the previous generations’ impact on the environment and that we were going to pay the ultimate price for their lack of action. While we may have tried to deny it, it is hard to pass off after experiencing all of the once-in-a-lifetime current events we have experienced.
In British Columbia during 2021 — in addition to the global pandemic — we experienced a heat dome that caused over five hundred human deaths and the complete obliteration of the town of Lytton. We also broke one thousand daily heat records in eleven days. Power grids failed; fruit cooked on the trees; asphalt warped. Wildfires raged across our forests; a lake caught fire in White Rock; there was a tornado near the Vancouver airport. Then, an atmospheric river broke forty daily rainfall records in two days and flooded most of BC’s Interior and south coast, causing the death of over one million animals (Hill). The level of precipitation falling also triggered landslides that were made worse by eroded soil due to forestry clearcut (Gomez). The landslides took out major road infrastructure, disconnecting the Vancouver region from the rest of the country for some time and cutting the city off of food and water supplies. While the military temporarily dammed the floods in major agricultural regions, snow fell, freezing the flood water in areas (Little). As I type this, we are leading into another rainfall warning that will last for the foreseeable future.
It is abundantly apparent that now is the time to make drastic changes, or we will all be living exponentially challenging lives. The biggest hurdle in changing our situation seems to be sitting squarely in the hands of industry under a capitalist fist. The industry sectors do not care about anything that doesn’t put wealth in their stakeholders’ pockets. In response to the over five hundred deaths due to the heat dome, our government’s response was exactly as foolish as Don’t Look Up portrayed. Premier Horgan initially responded with, “fatalities are part of life,” referring to deaths resulting from the climate crisis caused by the industries he’s helping protect (Little).
What is most complex about climate anxiety is existential dread. You know it is there; you can’t ignore it. You want to do something about it, but you dig deeper into your despair as you learn more. I don’t know what the answer is about the future. If I did, I wouldn’t have this anxiety over it. You truly never know what tomorrow brings, so be impeccable today. Take care of yourself and keep your batteries charged. Do what you feel is necessary to fight climate change within your expertise, passion and means. If we all pressure the system, our power in numbers can overpower the few.
I will continue researching our past environmental transgressions and writing about the effects at the time and how people moved forward. I will continue to write articles and make films removing the spin from the inefficient, Eurocentric, colonized industrial machine and highlight the scientists making a positive difference. I will continue to participate as little as possible in the economy. When I participate, my actions will be mindful that it discourages the industrial impact, focusing on local production using regional and sustainable resources.
Be well.
-Amanda
In addition to the climate disasters we experienced in BC, I’d like to take a moment to mention that in 2021 over 7000 children’s bodies were discovered on Residential School grounds across Canada. This development isn’t related to the climate disaster but rather a humanitarian catastrophe that deserves recognition and resolution.
Works Cited
Erickson, Harold L., and Larry King. “Persian Gulf War | Definition, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants, Map, & Facts.” Britannica, 9 January 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Goldberg, Rebecca F., and Laura N. Vandenberg. “The science of spin: targeted strategies to manufacture doubt with detrimental effects on environmental and public health — Environmental Health.” Environmental Health, 26 March 2021, https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-021-00723-0. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Gomez, Michelle. “BC forest conservationist warns of increased risk of landslides from logging.” CBC, 12 December 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/logging-risk-landslides-1.6279404. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Government of Canada. “Canadians and Nature: Environmental engagement, 2013.” Statistique Canada, 27 November 2015, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/16-508-x/16-508-x2015004-eng.htm. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Hill, Brian. “1.3 million farm animals died due to climate change: What can BC do to stop the next catastrophe? | Globalnews.ca.” Global News, 7 December 2021, https://globalnews.ca/news/8427762/b-c-flooding-kills-650000-farm-animals/. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Leiserowitz, Anthony, et al. “Dramatic increase in public beliefs and worries about climate change — Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.” Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 27 September 2021, https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/dramatic-increase-in-public-beliefs-and-worries-about-climate-change/. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Little, Simon. “Flooding, fires and heat: A year of unprecedented weather extremes in BC | Globalnews.ca.” Global News, 26 December 2021, https://globalnews.ca/news/8438007/bc-year-in-review-weather-extremes/. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Natural Resources Canada. “NRCAN.” Mountain pine beetle, 12 July 2021, https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests/wildland-fires-insects-disturbances/top-forest-insects-and-diseases-canada/mountain-pine-beetle/13381. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Schulte, Cara. “Canada Bans Use of Toxic Pesticide.” Human Rights Watch, 20 May 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/20/canada-bans-use-toxic-pesticide. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Summersett, Nicole. “Psychological Impacts of Nuclear Attack Threats.” Stanford University, 15 March 2018, http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph241/summersett1/. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Vitello, Connie. “Survey Says: Climate Change Remains the Most Critical Issue for Canadians.” The Environment Journal, 3 September 2020, https://environmentjournal.ca/climate-change-remains-the-most-critical-issue-for-canadians/. Accessed 11 January 2022.
Wilkinson, Dr. Katharine, and Britt Wray, Ph.D. “7 Resources to Help Manage Climate Anxiety.” Accessed 11 January 2022. Time Magazine, 3 November 2021, https://time.com/6112146/climate-anxiety-resources/.
