Let’s banish climate silence.
What is climate silence?
People not talking to each other and their elected representatives and companies about the climate crisis.
We fear getting our facts wrong, getting into pointless disagreements with people who don’t “believe” climate change is caused by human activity, or we worry we aren’t “green enough”, or eco-pure enough to say anything to anybody, or we are simply too tired to keep talking about the crisis.
And there is another kind of climate silence: our inner climate silence. Our immense grief, our dry mouth fear, our impotent rage.
We silence our grief and our part in creating the climate emergency.
It’s so hard to face our climate grief and feel our fear. But by facing it, just a little bit, here and there, we access the energy and fierceness, yet never the eco-purity to take action.
You are an artist, a creative, a healer, a maker, an influencer, a coach, a teacher, a human. You can feel these huge feelings. You can admit them to yourself. And then you can transmute them into something that helps.
Remind yourself you are strong enough to feel this.
Remind yourself you don’t have to feel it forever, a breath, an acknowledgment of what you are feeling. Break the climate silence with yourself only as much as you can bear. It’s okay to take care of your mental health here.
Remind yourself you never have to do it alone. There are hundreds of millions of people, of all ages, taking climate action, right alongside you.
Remind yourself that you are a single individual in a deeply unsustainable system.
Then ask yourself, How can I use my creative voice to break the climate silence today?
One conversation. One social media post. One poem. One guided meditation.
Not preaching or judging cause that doesn’t work. Instead, your feelings and fears shared and one thing you do to address the crisis. I call this climate vulnerability.
Break your climate silence with another person or your community today.
Thank you.
What is Create + Climate about? Here’s the explanation and invitation.
And the first call to create: Imagine If.
Create + Climate is a free service and our impact will grow because you share this with your corner of the world.
On social? Share what you make, discover, experience with #createclimate and tag me @jenlouden on Instagram and @jenlouden on Twitter.
Know that creating anything for anybody is going to feel so good. Action + stubborn optimism is what we need! Don’t make this a big ding-dang-do, just make it a do!