Is a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/thelazyenvironmentalists
In a recent post the blogger shared with us some of her useful resources:
Hello to all Lazy Environmentalists!
A previous community advice request brought to light a really important topic that really stuck with me, and seemingly everyone else! It was all to do with the guilt/panic/depression/sadness we often feel about the current situation with the environment, which is known as “eco-anxiety”.
Apologies for the long post...
The post had a lot of engagement from you all with fantastic ideas about how to help the environment and, by default, also yourselves. It can feel incredibly overwhelming and it’s so easy to get caught up in a panic that no matter what we do isn’t enough. However, the advice from you all went a long way to calm both me and everyone else on that thread, as well as showing that together, we can make a difference. So, I’ve taken all that lovely advice and put it into one post for you all to refer to whenever you feel you need it. It contains helpful advice about how to feel more proactive (through petitions and activism), as well as plenty of podcasts, books, links etc to information and organisations to get involved with. Obviously, this list can be expanded! So please feel free to add further suggestions in the comments.
Keep working hard everyone! You are all doing such an amazing job and I am so proud to see how we are helping to build towards a better future! Remember to take the time for yourselves too, this is as equally important. So much love to you all xxx
General Advice
- Petition
- Protest
- Write to your MP
- The starfish story! By Loren Eiseley
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking up and gently throwing things into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked: “Young man, what are you doing?”
The boy replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
The man laughed to himself and said, “Do you realise there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make any difference.”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf, then smiling at the man, he said: “I made a difference to that one.”
- Litter pick
- Mindfulness
Groups to Join
- Green Peace
- Friends of the Earth
- Grandparents for a Safe Earth
- Fridays for Future
- Extinction Rebellion
- Transition Network
Podcasts
- Good Ancestor
- How to Save a Planet
Books
- Living Green – Derbyshire Wildlife
- The Garden Jungle – Dave Goulson
- Human Kind – Rutger Bergman
- Hope in the Dark – Rebecca Solnit
- The Wild Edge of Sorrow – Francis Weller
- The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible – Charles Eisenstein
- Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy – Joanna Macy
- Terror Management Theories (waiting on links from Gen Robinson)
Articles
- https://www.nytimes.com/.../how-to-help-climate-change...
- https://www.theguardian.com/.../mary-robinson-climate...
- https://www.theguardian.com/.../how-scientists-are-coping...
- https://www.brainpickings.org/.../erich-fromm.../...
YouTube
- Permaculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GJFL0MD9fc
- Regenerative Agriculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQW8Tl_KLc
- India’s Water Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE
- Psychologist speaking on eco-anxiety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be...
Facebook Groups
- Jewels in Nature Group
- Stop Ecocide International
- Positive Deep Adaptation UK – the paper on the founding principles can be found here: http://www.lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf...
Useful Links
- Switch It: an online site that lets you know if your bank or energy provider is funding fossil fuels and recommends more eco-friendly providers.
https://www.switchit.money/#switch
- A site that provides nothing but positive news!
https://www.positive.news/; https://happyeconews.com/
- Friends of the Earth provides some useful tips on how to cope with eco-anxiety.
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/clim.../how-cope-eco-anxiety...
Quotes
- “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it” – The Talmud
- “I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle… If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that’s what will give you hope” – Dr Jane Goodall
- “The single biggest things I learned was from an indigenous elder of Cherokee descent, Stan Rushworth, who reminded me of the difference between a Wester settler mindset of “I have rights” to an indigenous mindset of “I have obligations”. Instead of thinking that I am born with rights, I choose to think that I am born with obligations to serve past, present, and future generations, and the planet herself” – Unknown
- “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world” – Unknown
- “I cannot do everything but I can do something” – Unknown
Comments from the community!
- Every action makes a difference! Ok, so somebody else isn’t recycling, but you are. Somebody else uses single use plastic straws, but you don’t. Somebody else is mowing their grass and using weedkiller, but you’ve got a wildflower patch and you leave water out for hedgehogs at night. You ARE making a difference. And although it doesn’t feel like it a lot of the time, things are changing. Look at the rise in veganism, the way people are, on the whole, looking for recyclable packaging when they are shopping, how trendy it is now to shop at “vintage” and charity shops. We’re getting there.
- This community has helped me feel more optimistic, just knowing there are so many other flawed human beings also trying to do their best for the planet and our children/grandchildren's futures. I try and remember some of the amazing turn arounds that I have witnessed in my life (66 next month!) South Africa end of apartheid, Berlin Wall coming down, Northern Ireland peace agreement. These seemed impossible but they happened.
- I’d think about doing specific things on three levels - your positive individual actions, making a difference in your locality/community and joining or aligning with national/ international causes - if you have done positive things for each you are “doing your bit” - well done!
- Whenever you can't see the next step, just do the next right thing. You may look at the larger picture and feel daunted, but I bet your actions have already affected someone and in turn their actions will change someone else. That's the change we need to be making.
In a recent post the blogger shared with us some of her useful resources:
Hello to all Lazy Environmentalists!
A previous community advice request brought to light a really important topic that really stuck with me, and seemingly everyone else! It was all to do with the guilt/panic/depression/sadness we often feel about the current situation with the environment, which is known as “eco-anxiety”.
Apologies for the long post...
The post had a lot of engagement from you all with fantastic ideas about how to help the environment and, by default, also yourselves. It can feel incredibly overwhelming and it’s so easy to get caught up in a panic that no matter what we do isn’t enough. However, the advice from you all went a long way to calm both me and everyone else on that thread, as well as showing that together, we can make a difference. So, I’ve taken all that lovely advice and put it into one post for you all to refer to whenever you feel you need it. It contains helpful advice about how to feel more proactive (through petitions and activism), as well as plenty of podcasts, books, links etc to information and organisations to get involved with. Obviously, this list can be expanded! So please feel free to add further suggestions in the comments.
Keep working hard everyone! You are all doing such an amazing job and I am so proud to see how we are helping to build towards a better future! Remember to take the time for yourselves too, this is as equally important. So much love to you all xxx
General Advice
- Petition
- Protest
- Write to your MP
- The starfish story! By Loren Eiseley
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking up and gently throwing things into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked: “Young man, what are you doing?”
The boy replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
The man laughed to himself and said, “Do you realise there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make any difference.”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf, then smiling at the man, he said: “I made a difference to that one.”
- Litter pick
- Mindfulness
Groups to Join
- Green Peace
- Friends of the Earth
- Grandparents for a Safe Earth
- Fridays for Future
- Extinction Rebellion
- Transition Network
Podcasts
- Good Ancestor
- How to Save a Planet
Books
- Living Green – Derbyshire Wildlife
- The Garden Jungle – Dave Goulson
- Human Kind – Rutger Bergman
- Hope in the Dark – Rebecca Solnit
- The Wild Edge of Sorrow – Francis Weller
- The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible – Charles Eisenstein
- Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy – Joanna Macy
- Terror Management Theories (waiting on links from Gen Robinson)
Articles
- https://www.nytimes.com/.../how-to-help-climate-change...
- https://www.theguardian.com/.../mary-robinson-climate...
- https://www.theguardian.com/.../how-scientists-are-coping...
- https://www.brainpickings.org/.../erich-fromm.../...
YouTube
- Permaculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GJFL0MD9fc
- Regenerative Agriculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQW8Tl_KLc
- India’s Water Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE
- Psychologist speaking on eco-anxiety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be...
Facebook Groups
- Jewels in Nature Group
- Stop Ecocide International
- Positive Deep Adaptation UK – the paper on the founding principles can be found here: http://www.lifeworth.com/deepadaptation.pdf...
Useful Links
- Switch It: an online site that lets you know if your bank or energy provider is funding fossil fuels and recommends more eco-friendly providers.
https://www.switchit.money/#switch
- A site that provides nothing but positive news!
https://www.positive.news/; https://happyeconews.com/
- Friends of the Earth provides some useful tips on how to cope with eco-anxiety.
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/clim.../how-cope-eco-anxiety...
Quotes
- “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it” – The Talmud
- “I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle… If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that’s what will give you hope” – Dr Jane Goodall
- “The single biggest things I learned was from an indigenous elder of Cherokee descent, Stan Rushworth, who reminded me of the difference between a Wester settler mindset of “I have rights” to an indigenous mindset of “I have obligations”. Instead of thinking that I am born with rights, I choose to think that I am born with obligations to serve past, present, and future generations, and the planet herself” – Unknown
- “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world” – Unknown
- “I cannot do everything but I can do something” – Unknown
Comments from the community!
- Every action makes a difference! Ok, so somebody else isn’t recycling, but you are. Somebody else uses single use plastic straws, but you don’t. Somebody else is mowing their grass and using weedkiller, but you’ve got a wildflower patch and you leave water out for hedgehogs at night. You ARE making a difference. And although it doesn’t feel like it a lot of the time, things are changing. Look at the rise in veganism, the way people are, on the whole, looking for recyclable packaging when they are shopping, how trendy it is now to shop at “vintage” and charity shops. We’re getting there.
- This community has helped me feel more optimistic, just knowing there are so many other flawed human beings also trying to do their best for the planet and our children/grandchildren's futures. I try and remember some of the amazing turn arounds that I have witnessed in my life (66 next month!) South Africa end of apartheid, Berlin Wall coming down, Northern Ireland peace agreement. These seemed impossible but they happened.
- I’d think about doing specific things on three levels - your positive individual actions, making a difference in your locality/community and joining or aligning with national/ international causes - if you have done positive things for each you are “doing your bit” - well done!
- Whenever you can't see the next step, just do the next right thing. You may look at the larger picture and feel daunted, but I bet your actions have already affected someone and in turn their actions will change someone else. That's the change we need to be making.