ANXIETY: THE UNSPOKEN SHADOW OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Climate change is the most defining issue of our time. It is close to impossible to say that an individual exists without having faced the impacts of climate change, whether directly or indirectly. One of the unseen impacts it has come with has been on our mental health. Climate change is here with us and is here to stay for a very long time. Unfortunately, it is not something that we can also just wish away. This also means that its spill-over effects might also be longer and even keep recurring.
The climate crisis has forced most of us to come face to face with our fears, the most prevailing ones being the fear of the unknown and chronophobia: the fear of the future. More young people are quickly trapped in the cycle of trying to find solutions for the climate crisis and the mental exhaustion that it comes with. The ones who are not in denial, live in a state of ecophobia, and feel too helpless to even do anything.
Additionally, local communities that have lost their livelihoods, heritage, and culture have to deal with the feeling of irreversible loss. As they stare into the blankness of an uncertain future, they wallow in solastalgia: the feeling of loss when communities are faced with great loss due to climate change. All they can do is reminisce about how the world was and imagine how it would have been. For them, the climate crisis becomes more of an issue of survival.
In African society, mental health was rarely spoken of, with only extreme visible forms of it like madness considered as such. Luckily, it is now a conversation in public spaces, and it is getting the attention it should. This has opened up spaces for people to raise their voices and find solutions through story sharing, movement building, and being part of meaningful movements.
There are many ways to deal with climate anxiety, but the most effective one still remains connecting with nature. Nature still shapes our lives even in the middle of a technological revolution. And yet, our answers in the green spaces are slowly shrinking. This calls us to action: to act in our small way to save the planet. We fix the climate, we fix us.
When Ida first stepped into Momentum, she was taken aback by the space’s beauty and warmth. It resembled a cozy living room, tailored for climate activists. On one wall, her friend Smilla, an artist and fellow member of Aurora, had painted a map adorned with various people holding signs and messages. It felt like a declaration: “This is a space for climate activists plotting to transform the world.” Momentum became a second home for both Aurora and Ida.
Her introduction to Momentum came through their generous offer to let Aurora utilize their rooms for meetings and events. This support was instrumental in organizing banner workshops, board meetings, and celebratory events. Furthermore, Momentum provided a hub for interaction with other young climate movements and activists, fostering solidarity and creating a rare safe space in Stockholm.
Ida’s involvement with Aurora began with her passion for nature, which evolved into a drive to combat the looming climate crisis. She found inspiration in the Urgenda case, where citizens sued their government over inadequate action against global warming. This led to the formation of Auroramålet, a youth-led organization that initiated Sweden’s first systematic climate case against the government. In Aurora, Ida serves as both spokesperson and scientific coordinator, deeply engaged in the organization’s legal efforts.
Aurora’s landmark lawsuit against the Swedish government on November 25, 2022, marked a pivotal moment. The atmosphere buzzed with anticipation at Mynttorget, where the demonstration commenced. Amidst the crowd and media frenzy, Ida hurried from an interview with Sweden’s prominent public broadcasting service. The march’s destination was Nacka tingsrätt, where the lawsuit would be filed. As they arrived, the board members delivered a powerful speech, signaling the beginning of a significant legal battle.
While Aurora awaits the highest court’s response, Ida remains driven by a mix of rage and love. She sees the exploitation of ecosystems, humans, plants, and animals as a grave threat, yet finds hope in the life worth protecting. Her advice to those considering engagement with Momentum or the fight for climate justice is simple: “Join! Civic engagement is not only crucial for the planet’s future but can also be enjoyable.”
As Ida leaves Momentum, she smiles, grabbing a banner collectively designed by the group. For her, this is just the beginning of a journey. Having graduated as a lawyer, she looks forward to dedicating her life to environmental issues and justice. Her ambition extends to creating a global climate litigation network, uniting countries and youth movements in holding governments accountable for their inaction.
Ida’s story resonates globally, showcasing how dedication and legal activism can pave the way for a more just and sustainable world.
When it comes to our ancestors, everyday was a battle and when you could stock up on supplies, you did. In the battle for survival the scarcity mindset was a driving force, which is something I believe led to a greater appreciation of what you had.
Unfortunately in today’s society, that isn’t the case. In so many societies of LAPA (Least Affected population areas) all we see is abundance. We are fooled by the size of the inventory stocks, and our brain think that this must be a never ending supply of whatever we need, whenever we need it. However, that is not the case. Ever since researchers could map out how brains work, we have been vulnerable to implicit marketing techniques and underlying messages. This would not be a problem if the human brain developed as fast as society at large. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and evolution is slow, leaving us exposed to companies that want to speak to our subconscious and automated part of the brain. Planting seeds that spark our desire for consumption and the feeling of being incomplete.
I can’t help but to wonder what a world without all of these implicit messages would look like. Would it strengthen our connection to ourselves? Would it strengthen our connection to one another? Would it leave us feeling empowered or would it leave us feeling empty? What would we have in our brains if nobody was trying to fill it up with information? I would like to believe that we would have more peace.
In a world where money rules, that reality unfortunately seems far away. Establishing and maintaining conflict is literally the livelihood of some companies, whether it is fooling someone into believing they are not beautiful or starting wars and providing weapons to both sides.
So how are we going to change a system that benefits from destruction? How are we going to change a system into a better one, when powerful actors take advantage of the outdated machinery of our brains to keep the status quo?
To be honest, when you go over the math of what needs to happen, it almost feels impossible.
It feels like the only way for people to take action is if they can actually see the threat. Our eyesight has developed to be our most trusted sense and crazy enough, maybe that’s what we need to see. An external existential threat to humanity. Because If we don’t, our feelings of indifference will be the end of us.
To turn this development, everyone needs to engage. Especially people in LAPA because that’s where a big part of the huge consumption demand comes from. I believe we need to understand our place in this world and respect it. I believe we need a new system that respects our mortality and tenders our wish for inner peace. A practice many of us in LAPA since long have forgotten. Because buried in “modern society” of our world, lies the worshiping of the sun and the earth. The two celestial bodies sustaining all life as we know it. And we need to practice not extracting more than the earth can withstand. I believe this is the knowledge of living in harmony with the earth. The knowledge of being a human.
For all of our sakes, I hope we make some big changes. That we connect to the earth again before it’s too late. That we make some of our old ways our new age, and that we find our way back. Back to you, back to me, and back to us.
In a world saturated with consumerism and a growing environmental consciousness, MAKE SMTHNG Week emerged as a transformative force. This annual international festival, passionately embraced by the Planet One makerspaces, seized the spotlight amid the whirlwind of Black Friday and the onset of the Christmas shopping season. It wasn’t merely a series of events; MAKE SMTHNG Week unfolded as a global movement celebrating creativity, challenging consumerism, and championing a sustainable future.
As we draw the curtains on a week brimming with creativity, collaboration, and conscious consumption, we reflect on the inspiring events that transpired across the Planet One makerspaces. From empowering workshops to innovative projects, the week became a celebration of sustainability, craftsmanship, and community.
In this harmonious blend of creativity and commitment, MAKE SMTHNG Week united communities worldwide, spotlighting diverse initiatives that took place at different Planet One makerspaces. This global celebration against consumerism illustrates the collective effort to challenge the norm and forge a path toward sustainable living.
At Bolygó, the week commenced with a pre-event that set the tone for the days ahead. Crafting instruments and a lively jamming session created a vibrant atmosphere, drawing in a community of individuals who returned eagerly for the subsequent events. The week progressed with crafting sessions and musical collaborations, turning Bolygó into a small, tightly-knit community where 70 participants joined the pre-event, with 10-15 enthusiasts attending each subsequent activity.
Make SMTHNG Week at Bolygó
Across the globe at Ubuntu Hub, the ambition soared high. The community expressed a desire for quarterly MAKE SMTHNG Weeks, emphasizing a commitment to sustained creativity and conscious living. Over four days, participants engaged in activities such as mural and canvas painting, upcycling projects, and the innovative transformation of old tires into unique furniture pieces. Ubuntu Hub became a haven for artistic expression and sustainable craftsmanship.
Make SMTHNG Week at Ubuntu Hub
In the spirit of diversity, Alternative Youth Space planned four distinct activities, each attracting 15-20 participants. From workshops with local school youths focusing on nature and the environment to sessions on making pots, renovating clothes, and crafting pencil purses, the hub embraced a holistic approach to sustainable living. Inviting artists and experienced individuals for the workshops added depth to the engagement, culminating in a powerful lesson on the fashion industry and greenwashing.
Make SMTHNG Week at Alternative
Mboa Hub showcased the strength of collaboration by organizing MAKE SMTHNG Week in partnership with local youth groups. An online challenge prompted participants to create new items from old materials, including making furniture from old tyres. The Plastic Day event saw 70 youths contributing to the creation of innovative pieces, ranging from Christmas decorations to artworks. The hub also hosted an art and clothes swapping event, where the materials for drawing were sourced from old clothes, emphasizing the creative potential of sustainable practices. The closing ceremony brought together the participants, presenting a culmination of the week’s collective efforts.
Ubunifu Hub harnessed the experience of past facilitators at their exhibition dubbed ‘Green Friday’, attracting a substantial crowd of about 200 participants. The hub explored urban farming, DIY projects with diverse materials, and a clothing swap. By inviting back previous facilitators for an exhibition, Ubunifu was a hub of inspiration, showcasing the transformative power of sustainable creativity.
Make SMTHNG Week at Ubunifu Hub
Momentum embodied the heart of Make SMTHNG Week by hosting a series of hands-on workshops and skill-sharing sessions that brought young people together. From upcycling old materials into functional art to learning about zero-waste living, participants gained practical knowledge and developed new skills that could be applied in their daily lives. The workshops were not only educational but also fostered a sense of community, with participants exchanging ideas and experiences.
Make SMTHNG Week at Momentum
Key Takeaways:
1. Empowerment Through Education: MakeSmthng Week showcased the transformative power of education in fostering sustainable practices, equipping participants with valuable knowledge and practical skills.
2. Community Building and Global Unity: The week not only fostered a strong sense of community among local participants but also established a global unity against mindless consumption, demonstrating the strength of collective action.
3. Tangible Impact and Simultaneous Skill-building: From individual lifestyle changes to community-wide projects, MakeSmthng Week highlighted the tangible impact of small actions. Simultaneously conducted workshops and skill-sharing sessions across hubs facilitated a global exchange of ideas and practical knowledge.
4. Diversity in Sustainability: The showcase of creations underscored the diversity of sustainable alternatives, emphasizing that the movement transcends cultural and geographical boundaries.
5. Community Impact on a Global Scale: Community impact projects undertaken in various hubs demonstrated that the collective effort to address sustainability issues extends beyond borders, contributing to a global movement for positive change.
As MAKE SMTHNG Week at Planet One makerspaces wraps up, the embers of the Green Rebellion continue to burn bright. The week may be over, but the impact, the skills learned, and the community forged will endure, inspiring a lasting commitment to a more sustainable way of life. Until the next MAKE SMTHNG Week, let’s keep creating, challenging, and making a difference.
Plastic pollution is a ticking bomb to our human health and a global environmental crisis, which is also negatively affecting animals and plants. If we, individually and collectively, do not come up with sustainable ecological solutions, the pollution will worsen until it will be fatal-inflicting self destruction. Hopefully, by taking the right actions we can save ourselves, fauna and flora.
In the air and water, we have invisible and visible aspects of plastic pollution. Plastic pieces have been found in marine animals’ stomachs, a direct result of our collective human ecological irresponsibility. However, the pollution is far worse than what we can see with our bare eyes: There are micro plastics and nano plastics in our water bodies as well as in the atmosphere. So, in some areas and to a very large extent, we may find ourselves breathing in or/and drinking water contaminated with micro and nano plastic particles.
We may all agree that plastics-made items are financially cheap and thus affordable to the majority of people. Even though they are very accessible and convenient in our daily usage, they are very environmentally unfriendly. Consequently, we can also agree that plastics have greatly contributed in polluting almost every visible part of our environment.
Members of Alternative Youth Center in Yerevan are cleaning Hrazdan river gorge from plastic and other trash.
What shall we do with these plastics? I suggest we do the following “7 R:s” to innovatively and progressively defeat plastics pollution.
Reuse: do not buy any other plastic items; use again the one you already have. If you have a plastic water bottle, refill it at home and use it throughout the day as you travel or at your workplace. Also, wash and use an empty peanut butter plastic can to store kitchen salt in it.
Reduce: minimize the habit of using plastic items you have. Here, you start discerning an ecological change of attitude towards your high valuing of plastics use into how I can stop using them; a first step of a conversion journey; training yourself to adopt a plastic-free-lifestyle.
Repair: when your plastic made item such as a basin is broken, do not throw it away, have a artisan personnel, or yourself, to repair the broken part so that you can continue using it.
Recycle: Instead of throwing away plastic items such as bottles, collect them and then hand them over to a nearby recycling factory to make new items such as flower vessels, dustbins, etc.
Replace: seek alternatives of plastics made items. It means that you will advocate and practice the use of timber (wood) products, plants, earthenware, or glass made items that are environmentally friendly.
Refuse: At this juncture, commit yourself to refuse to use any plastic made items. You become a fierce and relentless advocate and practitioner of non-plastics such as packaging items.
Restore: We must clean the littered plastics all over our environment starting at our house compounds, our work place, roads, towns and cities, etc. Furthermore, we clean our water bodies, especially the seas and oceans where most plastics end up. This way, we are restoring the lost or the dwindling environmental dignity and splendor of creation.
Ubunifu Hub members during the Make SMTHNG Week, November 2022
Notably, all these steps are not separate – they are intertwined. So, we must start by knowing the menace of plastics pollution and then start a journey of personal ecological conversion, a desire and a commitment to change your habit of using plastic made items into a habit of using environmentally friendly alternatives. In the process, we will find out that we are influencing others to change their plastics-based lifestyles to ecologically viable alternatives.
By
Mika von Olberg —
Alternative Youth Center (Yerevan, Armenia)
As we all know, climate change is driven by the emission of gasses that provoke the greenhouse effect, leading to the increase of temperatures on our planet and more extreme weather phenomena. These processes are abbreviated in the terms “global warming” and “climate change”. To get a deeper understanding of where our global emissions come from, here are some facts and numbers about the usage of fossil fuels:
Fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – provide 80% of the global energy needs. Since the industrial revolution, humans have burned fossil fuels in an increasing manner for electricity, heating, transportation (cars, trains, etc.), and in many industries (production, manufacturing, etc.).
This process has been an essential part of modern development worldwide, but the extraction and burning of fossil fuels have a lot of downsides.
With the burning, carbon dioxide (Co2) is produced, which is one of the largest drivers of climate change. The emissions account for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. These emissions are created in all kinds of fields, but these numbers show that we need to leave the era of fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy if we want to fight global warming.
The extraction of fossil fuels itself is another big problem, as it often causes massive destruction to nature and leaves whole land strips uninhabitable for plants and animals. Furthermore, it is estimated that millions of premature deaths are caused by high levels of local air pollution created by the burning of fossil fuels.
So how do we get away from the usage of fossil fuels? Using renewable energy (wind, sun, water, biomass, etc.) is our best available option, as it doesn’t pollute, or destroy nature in ways the fossil fuel industry does, and most importantly, it hardly emits any greenhouse gasses.
Moreover, renewable energies are an energy source we can’t run out of, which is something that can happen to nuclear energy and fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is another low-greenhouse-gas option, but it has the disadvantage of nuclear waste that needs to be stored.
Our philosophy at Bolygó is that being green should not be interpreted as a constant act of sacrifice, it should be interpreted more as a process of liberation. Giving a negative connotation to sustainable living, is like trying to advertise a chocolate as it is the worst chocolate you can get. Of course, no one would buy it. So if we want to convince people to change their lifestyles, we need to come up with a positive interpretation, which is actually if we start to think about it, not that hard to do.
The habits that are the hardest to change are usually the ones that you do because it gives you some kind of a good feeling – you are doing it because it makes you happy. We use cars because driving makes us feel good, we buy new clothes so that we feel happy, we go on fancy vacations to feel relaxed. What we usually don’t realize is that we are making too much effort to feel just a little spark of happiness, without realizing it. What if someone would tell you that you can feel happy without buying a product, without working so much, just to pay for all the unnecessary things that are supposed to give you the feeling of joy? What if someone would tell you that you could skip all those processes, and still be able to feel wholesome?
Whenever I talk about environmentalism with my friends, I always tell them that my motivation for living a green lifestyle is not climate anxiety – my motivation is that, since I’m an environmentalist, I’m able to experience wholesomeness because of the smallest things, that I don’t have to do anything for, I just pay attention. Seeing the full moon, how it makes the night so bright, seeing bees flying around the wildflowers, seeing the trees and flowers blooming during spring gives me so much happiness every time, without making any effort. With this approach, they can relate to sustainability so much easier than shocking them with numbers and data about climate change.
The key for convincing someone to change their lifestyle and mindset, is showing them alternatives for their old habits and for reaching the same kind of feelings. With this in mind, it’s easy to see that if you can reach the same level of happiness with less effort, it is not a sacrifice, it is a process of liberation.
By Olga Körner, the Local Coordinator of Bolygó, our makerspace in Budapest, Hungary.
