One of the challenges environmental advocates face in addressing climate change is that it’s hard to even talk about climate change. The topic is so existential and overwhelming it’s enough to provoke what some experts have taken to calling eco-anxiety or, worse, eco-paralysis.
The typical strategy environmental advocates and organizations use in trying to solve this issue is to focus on hope and optimism. In a paper set to be published in Environmental Ethics, Anncy Thresher, an assistant professor of public policy and urban affairs and religion and philosophy at Northeastern University, suggests another tactic: anger.
“If you care about stopping paralysis –– this idea that you’re so overwhelmed you can’t do anything –– hope and optimism will only get you so far,” Thresher says. “You need to have something that pushes you, and anger is directed. It’s a thing that pushes you to do something because you feel like you’ve been harmed.”
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