Digesting the IPCC Report

The IPCC Report is the bearer of alarming news for all on Earth. How can we best hear and  respond to this alarm, caring for ourselves and others while mustering motivation and  commitment for desperately needed action? The research of climate psychology tells us that  rather than suppress or avoid our distress, we need to welcome it as a healthy response to  the climate crisis. If we are not feeling some level of fear and grief, we are in denial. 

Acknowledging the complex of feelings we have in response to climate  breakdown is crucial for sustained action. These feelings  demonstrate how much we care about our world, our communities, our lives and our loved  ones. This caring is the basis for the action and change our world needs from us all right now.  

This work of acknowledging our feelings needs to be done with others, for climate  breakdown involves us all, both in its causes and its effects. We  need to use this report as a stimulus for reaching out to others, not only to share ideas about what we can do in response, but first to ask one another how we feel. Climate distress is very difficult, if not impossible, to bear alone. However, inviting an open conversation with  trusted climate aware colleagues, friends or family members about your response to the latest climate news, lets everyone name and validate their feelings. We can  learn that we are not alone in what we feel. There can be great comfort in this.  

Psychotherapists describe a safe sharing of feelings and a careful listening to how others  feel as a form of ‘holding and being held’. Listening to our own and others’ emotional oscillations helps us to accept the necessity and normality of feelings of grief, hope and  despair. They are part of the emotional ebb and flow that accompanies major loss and  change. Being held by a large group can make all the difference to how we respond as we  become more able to engage with an open heart and a stronger sense of shared purpose.  This is what our leaders are supposed to help us do. True leadership can hold the fear and  grief evoked by the climate crisis and offer a vision for the future we can work towards  together. 

How to read the report 

How you read the IPCC report or climate media reports bears thinking about. It is important  to be kind to yourself, and to be in as calm and grounded a state as one can be. Ideally do  this with a trusted companion or a group of colleagues. Choose the time of day to read and a pleasant setting, perhaps first walking or meditating in a natural setting. It can be helpful to  read slowly, noting your feelings, taking pauses to focus on your breath and checking in with  yourself and with others. Try not to take in more than you can digest, and take time out for refreshments.