Happy Earth Day

Two terms have recently entered my lexicon: solastalgia and pre-traumatic stress disorder. Solastalgia was coined by environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht. The term combines the words ‘solace’ (comfort in a time of distress) and ‘nostalgia’ (sentimentality for the past; a yearning for home): the suffix -algia is from the Greek algos, meaning pain. Solastalgia describes a feeling that many of us now experience in the era of the climate crisis: the distress we feel in the loss of our home; the loss of the environment in which we used to find solace; a longing for the homeland that has disappeared.

Historically ‘the future’ has represented positive promise: better days ahead. In the age of environmental crisis, the future increasingly represents tragedy and loss. Researchers have used terms like ‘ecoanxiety’ and ‘pre-traumatic stress disorder’ to describe these feelings of grief for the future.

The grief we feel for the earth as we see the growing impacts of climate change on our fellow humans and the non-humans with whom we share this planet is real and profound. When I see the cedar trees flagging, then dying, I feel a deep sense of sadness and loss.

These feelings are amplified and the distress is made worse when society and those in positions of power reflect back to us the opposite of what we see and are experiencing. A “climate plan” can’t be a communications exercise that justifies the expansion of fracking and fossil fuel infrastructure. It must be a clear path to moving us away from dependence on fossil fuels, and a roadmap to achieving food security, water security, and distributed clean energy.

A climate plan needs to also recognize that we need each other, and that we must envision and articulate a future that puts health and well-being – of individuals, ecosystems, and communities – as outcomes. Rather than putting the onus on individuals to buy an Electrical Vehicle or install a heat pump, we need a plan that recognizes how much further collective efforts can take us on this essential journey toward a livable, healthy future. For me, examples of collective action – from food forests to the efforts of Fatima de Silva and her team at Nourish Cowichan – are the antidote to grief.

This Earth Day (April 22), let us celebrate our local farmers, our watershed and ecosystem protectors, the organizations that support people and families, and all those who put their time and energy into making our community, and our world better.

Sonia Furstenau, MLA for Cowichan Valley, 250 715-2792 Sonia.Furstenau. MLA@leg.bc.ca