Leslie Davenport on Resiliency and Creative Action in the Face of Climate Change

For 35 years, Leslie Davenport has been a licensed marriage and family therapist, working with clients in California and Washington. About 15 years ago, a lifelong interest in ecology, combined with alarming climate change warnings, prompted her to specialize in climate psychology and the treatment of eco-anxiety—concepts she helped create.

In her 2017 book, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change, Davenport invited mental-health professionals to focus their skills on helping environmental activists and organizations become more effective in their important work. This visionary book transformed her career to include public speaking, teaching and writing numerous articles and books, including two for youngsters commissioned by the American Psychological Association: All the Feelings Under the Sun and What To Do When Climate Change Scares You.

Davenport currently serves in a climate psychology advisory role for Project InsideOut, One Resilient Earth, Climate Mental Health Network and the Post Carbon Institute.

 

What is your definition of emotional resiliency as it relates to climate change?

I define it as growing the capacity to remain present, grounded and empathetic, even in the face of rising distress. Until we get a better handle on slowing or stopping the rise of carbon in the atmosphere, that’s what’s being asked of us.

The idea is to not run and hide, check out with addictions or lose our footing in a way that we lash out in reactive ways. Instead, we stay with the discomfort, but not in a way that we’re walking around in a perpetual state of unease. We have to get nimble and comfortable with things shifting and changing, opportunities opening and closing and unexpected things happening—sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. These skills can be learned.

One thing I should say about handling any climate emotion is, while coping is certainly a part of it, so is engaging in solutions because until climate change stops being on this escalating trajectory with more and more dramatic fires, floods and windstorms, there are limits to how much we can bring the level of emotional intensity down.

In essence, we need a marriage of the internal (working with our thoughts, feelings and self-regulation) paired with the external (being part of change in any number of creative ways). When they are combined is when we can really be effective and resilient.

 

Why is it helpful to identify our climate-related emotions?

Humans are given this full spectrum of emotions, and in our predominantly Western culture, we aren’t very tuned in on that level. We are achievement-oriented and more in our head about things, but it doesn’t make those emotions go away. As we face climate change, we aren’t very well equipped to deal with the feelings that get triggered.

The first step is to identify those feelings and acknowledge that my feelings are not a problem to be solved. They are messengers and allies. This feeling of fear is telling me there are safety concerns, so let me look at how I can not only attend to my safety but also look for ways to help the community or the environment.

 

How do you use the Climate Emotions Wheel in your work?

It’s a conversation starter. If I’m leading an interactive workshop, there might be a wheel at each table for six or eight people to share their experiences and start to normalize the process of talking openly about their feelings. There’s a taboo about expressing our feelings, and the wheel provides a lovely opening for people to say yeah, I feel that, too.

What can you say about the anger category in the Climate Emotion Wheel?

Studies show that many young people in high school and through their 20s feel betrayed by what they thought were trusted institutions, whether it’s previous generations, the government or whoever is steering the ship of life. They sense that their whole future has been hijacked, and questions about whether or not to start a family or where to go to college are overshadowed by outrage and disappointment that those aren’t even questions they can look at anymore because the generations that preceded them and the people in power didn’t protect them and their future.

 

What about the fear category, which includes worry, anxiety, powerlessness, panic and overwhelm?

Notice that there’s a gradient there. Worry is not nearly as strong as panic or overwhelm. If you can learn how to manage your fear, worry can actually be motivating, prompting you to say, “This isn’t right. What can I do? Let me get involved and be a part of change.” But when it gets up into panic and overwhelm, trying to cope leaves no energy to be part of larger change. There are ways to honor and validate fear so that we can get back on our feet and manage our life better.

 

What are some coping strategies for fear?

Acknowledging it. Talking about it. Having it be witnessed. Learning mindfulness practices to lower the intensity of fear, whether it’s breath work or working with the thoughts that keep us awake at 3 a.m. and fuel the fear—not going into denial, but noticing that right at that moment, at 3 a.m., we’re in a peaceful, quiet house. There isn’t necessarily a reason for that fear to be as high as it is in that moment. Then we can remind ourselves to tap into the feeling of peacefulness or safety that we have learned.

 

What strategies do you suggest for overwhelm?

A lot of the tools are the same—honor the feelings, work with the nervous system to bring that overwhelm down—but it’s probably going to need a higher level of attention and a greater network of support. Many people are finding comfort in climate cafés or climate circles, which are free or low-cost, peer-support groups that meet in person or online to talk about their feelings and experiences, and to hear what’s helping other people cope.

Youth and young adults are some of the hardest hit by climate change because they are future-looking and feeling scared. Many of them are some of the strongest activists, and when I work with them one-on-one or in a group, I hear them say that they can’t pause for self-care because it’s indulgent and because the cause is too urgent and every second counts. But if they don’t take those moments of replenishment, there are high levels of burnout.

I remind them that nature has this rhythm: the waxing and the waning of the moon, the ebb and flow of tides, times of activity and times of dormancy. Taking a break and recharging is in alignment with natural rhythms. It’s necessary to drink from the well and build up our strength so that we can stay in it for the long run and ultimately be more effective.

 

How can we expand our positivity?

Thousands of years ago, our ancestors needed to pay attention to sources of danger for their survival, whether it was a wild animal or marauding tribes. They were always scanning for safety, and it meant that they were programmed—and we are programmed—to pay way more attention to threats and risks than to beauty and what’s going well.

That negativity bias is the reason that therapists suggest walks in nature or a gratitude practice. Enjoying all the good things in our lives and the beauty in our natural world not only fuels our well-being and sense of calm, but it also helps motivate us to know what we can do to protect the things we value.

We need to be a little more proactive in seeking out inspiring people and organizations that are committed to creating a healthier, more just world. Action is empowering. If we don’t do anything, it often feeds into the feeling that we are powerless or a victim, which can then sink down into a more depressive, resigned-doom mind frame.

 

Where does hope come in?

One of my favorite definitions is by David Orr: “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.” It’s about looking for ways that we can participate and be committed to change, not believing that any one person can do it all but knowing that we all have a voice and a role to play.

I would stretch our definition of activism or advocacy beyond just getting a megaphone or marching in the streets. I’m talking about the school teacher that supports an afterschool green club for kids, or a medical professional that starts a waste-reduction initiative in their hospital, or the artist that expresses themselves in an educational or inspiring way. Pick any profession. If we all found ways to bring forward more sustainable practices, it would ripple out because if one school is successful in some kind of greening initiative, it then becomes a model for others to follow suit.

 

Can you explain your concept of ecological imagination?

I believe we can go further than simply stopping bad things from happening. Let’s think outside the box and imagine the future we want to create rather than try and change and paste together what has come before. Where can we go that doesn’t just recreate the same model?

I also think we need to tap into important human capacities that are underdeveloped and under-utilized such as creativity, intuition and all kinds of ways of knowing that don’t come into the mainstream, including ancestral wisdom, collective wisdom and body-based wisdom. Part of what has created the climate problem is our growth and achievement mindset. Instead of trying to solve the problem in the same way, let’s see what happens if we bring these other parts forward in our planning and problem solving.

 

Sandra Yeyati is the national editor of Natural Awakenings magazine.

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