Existential? You might be going through Green Grief

On mourning the future you thought you'd have.

Darlings! As I wrote to you yesterday I am currently in Thailand at a media conference with the Asia New Zealand Foundation, so I’m currently running on Papaya salad, impeccable local coffee, and pure US election anxiety. Luckily for us, we have my bestie

Bel Hawkins

writing you a lil newsy today, all about Green Grief. Enjoy! Or… Good luck!

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Existential? You might be going through Green Grief

Hi crushes <3 She's a worn-out woman in a chronic fatigue episode this week, writing to you from bed in a thunderstorm that feels like climate change is well and truly alive and happening.

Which brings me seamlessly to a new phrase for you, which I was reminded about by both the below meme and a recent dinner I was at with friends, sitting on their living room floor talking about how we cope with knowing so many bad things are happening in the world at once.

It's something Luce and I get asked about a lot when we do live events - how do you read so much of the news and still want to wake up each morning? And it's an existentialism I get in my DMs ALL THE TIME. Obviously, there are academic studies on this and experts you can turn to for a more learned take on this topic, but as a pseudo internet therapist witch myself, I've always resonated with the concept of 'Green Grief' as a form of solace.

Green Grief is about taking the time to mourn the future you thought you were promised but will likely not have, largely due to climate change. The snow you thought you'd see. The coastline you thought would last forever. The calm, dependable future you maybe wanted to raise children in. God, probably even the industry you were interested in.

None of this is to say a good life is impossible. Or that joy is unattainable because there were the most flights taken on record this year. But it is to acknowledge that we have failed the planet, and now it's failing us, and we must adapt our expectations accordingly, and to do so in the best way is to admit that the grief is real - and it's important to feel it.

I hope this phrase doesn't make you emo, but gives you a concept to latch on to - to explain those weird, whirring feelings you get when you think about the future in dizzy confusion about what it's going to be like, and how helpless it can sometimes make you feel. You're not alone. 

See you this weekend for our advice newsy. 

Bel xx