美国国家公共电台 NPR First Step To 'Eco-Grieving' Over Climate Change? Admit There's A Problem

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

A growing body of research shows climate change is bad, not just for the planet, but for our mental health. People who've lived through weather disasters are more prone¹ to depression, suicide, post-traumatic stress.

Psychologists see more subtle effects, too. Just thinking about the impact of a shifting climate can make you feel anxious and overwhelmed. Judy Fahys of member station KUER reports on a support group in Utah that's helping² people cope.

JUDY FAHYS, BYLINE³: In a split level outside Salt Lake City, eight people gathered for a weekly meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Welcome.

FAHYS: This group of strangers started coming together last year. They range from millennials to grandparents.

DICK MEYER: The floor is open.

FAHYS: Dick Meyer used to be skeptical⁴ about climate change. As the group sits in a circle in the living room, he tells why the problem made him emotional.

MEYER: And I think I came to the conclusion that it was the loss of the future. The future that I had lived knowing was going to be there all of a sudden is gone, and that is really disorienting.

FAHYS: Meyer winters in Utah, but he tells me he's run a landscaping business in Nebraska for decades. That's where he seen a few common tree species dying out. Something scientists traced to heat and drought.

MEYER: At some point, you come to a conclusion if you're paying attention, I think, where you just say, whoa, this is serious. And then you suffer for awhile. You grieve.

KELLY: Laura Schmidt was also struggling when the idea for this group first came to her. She was an undergrad then studying species extinction⁵ and melting ice caps. The human impacts of all that made her feel heartsick and powerless. Then Schmidt remembered the 12 steps that self-help groups use for problems like drugs and overdrinking.

LAURA SCHMIDT: I have been an avid⁶ participant in an al-anon group - adult children of alcoholics⁷ - and I realized that that group can be co-opted.

FAHYS: Schmidt wrote her own steps - nine of them. The first is the standard admit there's a problem.

SCHMIDT: It's a lot about understanding your power and what you're capable of but also your limitations as a single human being on this planet.

LISE VAN SUSTEREN: Yes people are anxious. We have climate anxiety all over the place.

FAHYS: Lise Van Susteren is a Washington D.C. psychiatrist⁸ and climate activist⁹.

SUSTERAN: Every single day we are told about what disasters are just around the corner, and this is being processed whether we know it consciously or not.

FAHYS: Van Susteren calls the Utah group's approach brilliant since it helps people cope with their feelings and makes their community ties stronger. The American Psychological Association suggests both strategies in its new report on climate and mental health.

ALI HARBERTSON: Does this help to talk about it with people? It totally has.

FAHYS: In Utah, Ali Harbertson says she comes to these meetings to mourn the past and re-imagine her kids' future. We don't do chit chat. We go right to like what's on your heart, and I cry like every week, which is no big - no big thing for me. I'm a huge crier. But still, like, feeling like I can do that with almost complete strangers is amazing.

FAHYS: People in other states who've heard about this program are asking if they can use it, too. So the Utah group is planning to share it. For NPR News, I'm Judy Fayhs in Salt Lake City.

(THE SIX PARTS SEVEN SONG, "THIS ONE OR THAT ONE?")

1 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

5 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

6 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

7 Alcoholics   

n.嗜酒者，酒鬼( alcoholic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many alcoholics go on drinking sprees that continue for days at a time. 许多酒鬼一次要狂饮好几天。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Do you have a copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous book? 你手上有戒酒匿名会的书吗？ 来自互联网

8 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。