https://reasonstobecheerful.world/young-people-climate-distress-therapy/
"Marinel Ubaldo freezes when she hears heavy rain or intense wind.
“My brain just cannot function,” says Ubaldo, a climate activist who is
studying for her master’s degree in environmental management at Duke University
in North Carolina. “It triggers my trauma, and all the memories from the past
just come rushing to me.”
A decade ago, when Ubaldo was in her last year of high school, her village in
the Philippines was hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan. The community on the
Pacific-facing shore had experienced many typhoons. Through Ubaldo’s childhood,
prepping her family’s oceanfront home for storms was a regular part of life. As
Haiyan approached, Ubaldo expected the same storm routine. But this typhoon
with winds that reached 195 mph was equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane — much
stronger than the storms the community was used to.
From an evacuation center in the building where she’d attended day care, she
watched the storm devastate the town. The gymnasium roof floated in the wind
like paper, she recalls. A wave washed a baby from the mother’s arms. Her
family’s home was destroyed. And in the days after, before outside aid reached
them, she and other members of her community just tried to survive.
For Ubaldo, the storm didn’t just leave her with traumatic memories. It also
deepened her anxiety about the impacts of climate change, a feeling she says is
common among her peers. “It’s overwhelming that you don’t know if you have a
future,” Ubaldo says. “You don’t know if your family will still be there next
month … because our future is so unpredictable because of climate change.”
As the Earth’s climate alters, regions around the world are facing more intense
storms, wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and other phenomena. Less visibly, the
multilayered effects of the climate crisis have huge implications for mental
health. In a number of surveys, people say climate change causes them stress,
worry, or fear. And many, like Ubaldo, are already dealing with anxious
feelings and trauma from its impacts today."
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
