4 Tips for Dealing with Climate News
Stay informed, not overwhelmed!
Last week I shared what I call the Route to Awareness Overwhelm, this week for mental health awareness month I will share tips for how to consume news and information. There is a lot of negative climate news out there and consuming every bit and piece of it is an easy way to end up overwhelmed, and ultimately, less able to take powerful action.
Famous author and thought leader Yuval Noah Harari recently said that climate despair is as dangerous as climate denial. So learning how to be smart and kind to ourselves about our news intake is critical both for the movement and for our mental health!
4 Tips for Dealing with Climate News
Many of the following tips I’ve from Jack Adam Weber when co-hosting a session together on climate awareness in my Climate Optimist Master Class. For much more on the topic, I highly recommend his most recent book, Climate Cure - Heal Yourself to Heal the Planet. I will also hint that a new version of the Master Class is coming out later this year — stay tuned!
ONE — Filter Out!
You don’t have to read every article or watch every video! If you find yourself overwhelmed by climate news and feel like you can’t get a mental break, start by simply cutting down. It is important to be mindful of your media intake so try finding a healthy balance that works for you. Consider signing up for a weekly newsletter or a news platform that gives you daily tidbits of information. This way you can stay informed, but not overwhelmed.
I personally like New York Times’s weekly newsletter Climate Forward
TWO — Mix in Positive News Too
Try to follow up your negative news intake with some positive ones! We don’t hear about them often but there are some remarkable climate stories out there worth keeping an eye on. Reading good climate news to balance out the negative is essential for keeping your optimism alive. It makes you more resilient in your work for climate justice and it also helps you recognize and celebrate all the work that’s already being done!
It might seem like we have a mountain to climb to figure this out, and we do, but by recognizing that we’ve already begun that climb, it’s much easier to find the hope to keep going!
For weekly tidbits of optimism, check out Future Earth’s Good News Tuesday and fellow climate optimist Zahra Biabani’s weekly Earth Win Dance Videos!
THREE — Healthy Denial
Know that it’s perfectly fine to apply a bit of healthy denial. We all live in denial to one degree or another. It would be quite impossible to function in our everyday lives if we didn't, especially given how easy it is to access information these days. There is something called awareness overwhelm and it’s a real thing. Overwhelm can easily lead to suppressed feelings, anxiety, and most likely inaction, so it is actually part of our mission as climate optimists to be mindful of how much we can consume while still staying driven to take action!
How you apply this denial is up to you, but make sure to take breaks during your day when you don’t think about climate change. Go for a walk, play with your kids, or go have a date with your friend. Finding times when we simply get to just live is incredibly important so that we can keep our strength (and sanity) moving forward!
FOUR — Community
Any burden is easier carried if shared so the best way to deal with climate anxiety and overwhelm is by finding support in others. Start having conversations and share how you feel — who knows, maybe your friend/ mother/ colleague feels the same? It’s OK to be worried about climate change and it’s important that we openly share that we are. That way, we allow others to feel the same way, and we can come together to enact powerful changes.
I also highly recommend joining a community with like-minded people. Find one locally close to you or join one online — any community where you get to share your fears but also participate in the positive action! If you’re looking for an online community, we welcome anyone to join us in The Collective. You can try a month for free and see if this is something for you!
These were just a few tips for getting better at consuming climate news while staying motivated to work for positive change, but of course, find what works best for you! The bottom line is understanding that more knowledge does not necessarily lead to more action (crazy fact, studies have shown that the more we learn about climate change, the less we do something about it, but you need to read Per Espen Stoknes’s book to nerd out on that!), so keep that in mind!
If you don’t find a healthy balance right away, go easy on yourself. Maybe start by taking a media break altogether and build up some new strength? Once you feel more balanced, start adding a few news snippets into your daily routines again and follow the tips above, with limited consumption followed by good news, and reminding yourself that a bit of healthy denial is totally OK!