Paralyzing fear

One of the resistances to Total Green Future is the concern that we might makes things worse, such as installing some merciless authoritarian regime that has no interest other than perpetuating its own power. These concerns are explored in the post What Happens if We’re Wrong? However, there is another, more emotional issue at play here: fear.

When the issue of fear is discussed in environmental circles, it is typically done in the context of how we cope with the fear of environmental catastrophe. Groups such as Deep Adaptation are doing useful work exploring the psychology of coping in regard to environmental issues and the emotional support that we can provide one another.

However, there is another form of fear: the fear of doing what is necessary to genuinely take responsibility for course-correcting the environment, for answering the call to our environmental duty. Jean-Paul Sartre famously said something along the lines of, “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” We should add here that we are similarly responsible for what we don’t do. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it was just about our individual destinies; but as Sartre also said, “Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind” (forgive the “man” and “mankind” language in those quotes: he wasn’t so great on inclusivity).

Facing our individual responsibility for the environment is scary, and fear can be paralyzing. Most people abdicate their responsibility, expecting someone else to show leadership: governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, celebrities, and so on. When they do take some personal responsibility, it tends to be modest activities such as recycling and reducing meat consumption because they feel that’s all they can do, and because it does not require them to face fear.

But here’s the thing: by avoiding fear, we invite catastrophe. It is not too dramatic to state that we are in the middle of a war. Big Business and their enablers in government are ruining the environment and putting our lives in peril for profit. First, these bad actors count on the fact that we have been conditioned to accept — and even want — their vision of “prosperity” and “progress.” Second, they count on the fact that even those who resist such conditioning are too disempowered or fearful to do anything about it. This is how they are winning the war: day in, day out.

We have only two choices, and both are scary: either we allow business-as-usual to run us over the edge of the cliff, or we do something about it. Allowing fear to paralyze us is not a neutral response: it is to actively choose the business-as-usual option. Unfortunately, fear is unavoidable; but we still have the freedom to do something in this war and course-correct the environmental crisis.

But how do we overcome this fear? One method is to imagine two different futures and explore how you feel about living in them. Imagine it is the year 2050 and you’re sat around the kitchen table having a birthday lunch for a young relative. In the first future, you — along with most other people — were conquered by a paralyzing fear that resulted in an increasingly ruined environment. Your young relative asks bitterly, “Why didn’t you guys do more back in the 20s? Everyone knew what was going to happen!” In the second future, you — along with most other people — conquered fear, which resulted in a course-correction of the environmental crisis. Your young relative asks excitedly, “Tell us more stories about what you guys did back in the 20s! They’re so inspirational!”

Which conversation do you want to have? Do you want to be considered a collaborator in a death cult, or a freedom fighter who sought to preserve life? That might seem like being forced into a false choice. But it’s probably not that far removed from the kind of conversations you’ll be having in 2050, for either the good or the bad. Do not let fear stop you being the person you want to be and having a legacy you can own with pride.