[✔️] October 22, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Climate therapists NYTimes, Climate traumas Bob Doppelt, Building resilience, ITRC, Children at risk, Risk persuasion, 1976 Bush and Jimmy Carter

[R.Pauli]

/*October 22*//*, 2023*/

/[ NYTimes Magazine the Climate Psychology Alliance -- text clips and 
audio - I too, am kept up at night, and so honored to be involved with 
this non-profit organization - https://www.climatepsychology.us/ ]/
*Climate Change Is Keeping Therapists Up at Night*
How anxiety about the planet’s future is transforming the practice of 
psychotherapy.
By Brooke Jarvis
Oct. 21, 2023
Andrew Bryant can still remember when he thought of climate change as 
primarily a problem of the future. When he heard or read about troubling 
impacts, he found himself setting them in 2080, a year that, not so 
coincidentally, would be a century after his own birth. The changing 
climate, and all the challenges it would bring, were “scary and sad,” he 
said recently, “but so far in the future that I’d be safe.”...
- -
/[ audio reading ]/ 
https://www.nytimes.com/audio/app/2023/10/21/magazine/climate-anxiety-therapy.html?referringSource=audioAppPromo
- -
Now lots of Bryant’s clients wanted to talk about climate change. They 
wanted to talk about how strange and disorienting and scary this new 
reality felt, about what the future might be like and how they might 
face it, about how to deal with all the strong feelings — helplessness, 
rage, depression, guilt — being stirred up inside them.

As a therapist, Bryant found himself unsure how to respond. He grew up 
deeply interested in science and nature — he was a biology major before 
his fascination with human behavior turned him toward social work — but 
he always thought of those interests as separate from the profession he 
would eventually choose. And while his clinical education offered lots 
of training in, say, substance abuse or family therapy, there was 
nothing about environmental crisis, or how to treat patients whose 
mental health was affected by it. He began reaching out to other 
counselors, who had similar stories. They came from a variety of 
clinical backgrounds and orientations, but none of their trainings had 
covered issues like climate change or environmental anxiety...

Over and over, he read the same story, of potential patients who’d gone 
looking for someone to talk to about climate change and other 
environmental crises, only to be told that they were overreacting — that 
their concern, and not the climate, was what was out of whack and in 
need of treatment. (This was a story common enough to have become a 
joke, another therapist told me: “You come in and talk about how anxious 
you are that fossil-fuel companies continue to pump CO2 into the air, 
and your therapist says, ‘So, tell me about your mother.’”) ...

One of the emerging tenets of climate psychology is that counselors 
should validate their clients’ climate-related emotions as reasonable, 
not pathological. This doesn’t mean confirming particular predictions or 
scenarios — they’re therapists, not climate scientists — or amplifying 
existing fears, but it does mean validating that feelings like grief and 
fear and shame aren’t a form of sickness, but, as Weston put it, “are 
actually rational responses to a world that’s very scary and very 
uncertain and very dangerous for people.” In the words of a handbook on 
climate psychology, “Paying heed to what is happening in our communities 
and across the globe is a healthier response than turning away in denial 
or disavowal.”...

Many of the therapists I talked to spoke of their role not as “fixing” a 
patient’s problem or responding to a pathology, but simply giving their 
patients the tools to name and explore their most difficult emotions, to 
sit with painful feelings without instantly running away from them. For 
this, they found that many of the methods in their traditional tool kits 
continue to be useful in climate psychology. Anxiety and hopelessness 
and anger are all familiar territory, after all, with long histories of 
well-studied treatments. Plus, people bring their own issues and 
patterns to the particularities of the climate crisis: hypervigilant 
doom-scrolling if they have control issues, perhaps, or falling into 
despondency if they have a tendency toward depression. (And, in defiance 
of the joke, sometimes it is still helpful to talk about your mother.) 
They focused on trying to help patients develop coping skills and find 
meaning amid destabilization, to still see themselves as having agency 
and choice...

Lately, Bryant told me, he’s been most excited about the work that 
happens outside the therapy room: places where groups of people gather 
to talk about their feelings and the future they’re facing. It was at 
such a meeting — a community event where people were brainstorming ways 
to adapt to climate chaos — that Weston, realizing she had concrete 
skills to offer, was inspired to rework her practice to focus on the 
challenge. She remembers finding the gathering empowering and energizing 
in a way she hadn’t experienced before. In such settings, it was 
automatic that people would feel embraced instead of isolated, natural 
that the conversation would start moving away from the individual and 
toward collective experiences and ideas. There was no fully separate 
space, to be mended on its own. There was only a shared and broken 
world, and a community united in loving it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/magazine/climate-anxiety-therapy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4kw.npQ9.DNnepmOgVBfq&smid=url-share

- -

/[ Resilient skill building - sound problems in media - still worth 
hearing  ]/
*Preventing and healing climate traumas - Bob Doppelt webinar*
Institute of Global Health Innovation
May 19, 2023
This webinar titled “Preventing and Healing Climate Traumas: A Guide for 
Building Resilience and Hope in Communities”, was delivered by Bob 
Doppelt and hosted by Dr Emma Lawrance for the Climate Cares programme. 
- climatecares.co.uk

Bob Doppelt founded and coordinates the International Transformational 
Resilience Coalition (ITRC), a network of mental health, social service, 
disaster management, climate, and faith organizations and professionals. 
He is trained in both counseling psychology and environmental science 
and has combined the two fields throughout his career.

    8:52
    ... accelerating climate ecosystem biodiversity catastrophe and I'm
    using that word for very specific reason -- and that is it comes out
    of disaster sociology where they could they define emergencies and
    disasters and catastrophes -- is sort of three separate although
    interredicted issues catastrophes have ...
    9:59
    ... a catastrophe and most important is that you don't respond or
    manage a catastrophe in the same way that you respond to emergencies
    and disasters because they are much more complicated much more
    severe widespread and prolonged and that's really what we're facing
    with the climate emergency ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejHTyytZnzo

- -

/[ the book ]/
*Preventing and Healing Climate Traumas: A Guide to Building Resilience 
and Hope in Communities *(Paperback)
By Bob Doppelt
$39.95
Using extensive research, interviews with program leaders, and examples, 
Preventing and Healing Climate Traumas is a step-by-step guide for 
organizing community-based, culturally tailored, population-level mental 
wellness and resilience-building initiatives to prevent and heal 
individual and collective climate traumas.

This book describes how to use a public health approach to build 
universal capacity for mental wellness and transformational resilience 
by engaging community members in building robust social support 
networks, making a just transition by regenerating local physical/built, 
economic, and ecological systems, learning how trauma and toxic stress 
can affect their body, mind, and emotions as well as age and culturally 
tailored mental wellness and resilience skills, and organizing group and 
community-minded events that help residents heal their traumas. These 
actions build community cohesion and efficacy as residents also engage 
in solutions to the climate emergency.

This book is essential reading for grassroots, civic, non-profit, 
private, and public sector mental health, human services, disaster 
management, climate, faith, education, and other professionals, as well 
as members of the public concerned about these issues. Readers will come 
away from this book with practical methods-based on real-world 
examples-that they can use to organize and facilitate community-based 
initiatives that prevent and heal mental health and 
psycho-social-spiritual problems and reduce contributions to the climate 
crisis.
https://www.wildrumpusbooks.com/book/9781032200200

- -

/[ Bob Doppelt's organization ]/
*International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC)*
The International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC) is a 
network of mental health, human service, climate, education, disaster 
management, faith, and other organizations committed to establishing 
programs and policies worldwide that use a public health approach to 
strengthen the capacity of all adults and youth for mental wellness and 
resilience for all types of toxic stresses and traumas as they also 
engage in solutions to the climate emergency.
- -
The ITRC is led by a national steering committee composed of individuals 
representing national, regional, and local mental health, social work, 
human services, climate, and other organizations. An advisory committee 
of composed of people with expertise in different fields assists the 
national steering committee.
https://itrcoalition.org/



/[ OK kids, time to wake up  ]/
*Children at ‘existential risk’ from climate crisis, UK’s top 
paediatrician says*
Exclusive: Physical and mental impact on young people needs immediate 
action, Dr Camilla Kingdon says
Andrew Gregory Health editor
@andrewgregory
Sat 21 Oct 2023
The climate crisis poses an “existential risk” to the health and 
wellbeing of all children and action to tackle it is needed immediately, 
Britain’s most senior paediatrician has said.

In a major intervention, Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal 
College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), said every adolescent 
was at grave risk from the physical and mental effects of the climate 
crisis. Healthcare professionals were already seeing its impact 
first-hand, she added.

Air pollution, extreme weather and unprecedented energy costs were 
having a very real and detrimental effect on millions of children, she 
said. But as a country we have our “heads in the sand” when it comes to 
the climate crisis.

Kingdon attacked what she described as the rolling back of net zero 
policies by Rishi Sunak and said the country’s most vulnerable children 
would be left bearing the greatest burden as a result.

Rising temperatures around the world as a result of the climate crisis 
are having a devastating effect on foetuses, babies and children, 
multiple studies have found.

Scientists have determined the climate emergency is causing – among 
other adverse outcomes – an increased risk of premature birth and 
hospitalisation of young children as well as weight gain in babies. 
Research shows pollution can stunt children’s lung growth, cause asthma 
and affect blood pressure, cognitive abilities and mental health.

“Climate change is no longer tomorrow’s problem, it’s today’s,” Kingdon 
said. “Healthcare professionals across the UK are already seeing its 
impact first-hand.”

In the UK, air pollution was the largest environmental risk to public 
health, she added. “Children breathe faster, so they inhale more 
airborne toxins in proportion to their weight than adults exposed to the 
same amount of air pollution. As such, they are especially vulnerable to 
air pollution, which can lead to asthma in childhood, and lifelong 
health issues.”
The damage inflicted on children by the climate crisis was not limited 
to physical ill health, Kingdon said. “The mental health effects of 
climate change on children are significant and may be long lasting.

“Children exhibit high levels of concern over climate change and the 
mental health consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder, 
depression, anxiety, phobias, sleep disorders, attachment disorders and 
substance abuse, can lead to problems with learning, behaviour, and 
academic performance.”

Kingdon said as a result of glaring health inequalities in the UK, some 
children were suffering the ill-effects more than most. “Climate change 
poses an existential risk to the health and wellbeing of all children. 
However, the current impacts of climate change are not experienced equally.”

Low-income households had less choice in where they live, were more 
likely to live in deprived areas and were therefore more exposed to 
extreme weather events and poorer air quality, she added.

The climate crisis is leading to more damp and cold properties as a 
result of increases in winter precipitation in the UK. For low-income 
households, homes may be too expensive to heat to an adequate 
temperature, increasing their exposure to cold and mould.

Kingdon said: “Every child is at grave risk of the effects of our 
changing climate, but none more so than children in lower-income 
families. These children are facing an increased mortality risk from 
extreme weather events, exacerbated respiratory conditions from dirty 
air and even increased rates of cancer, diabetes and obesity.
“It is wholly unjust that these vulnerable children should bear the 
greatest burden in terms of climate change, especially in the context of 
a government that is rolling back on its net zero policies.”

The RCPCH wants Sunak to appoint a cabinet minister for children and to 
prioritise child health in policymaking on the climate crisis.

“We cannot continue on like this as a country, with our heads in the 
sand,” Kingdon said. “There is no such thing as the ‘right time’ 
economically to tackle climate change, and indeed the cost of not 
reaching net zero is far greater. We must act now and with our children 
in mind.

“As an organisation, we continue to call on political leaders to take 
action on poverty and health inequalities while also emphasising the 
unequal impact of climate change.”

Thousands of paediatricians in the UK are being given new resources by 
the RCPCH to support children affected by the climate crisis. They 
include template letters of support on behalf of families who need 
improvement to housing for their health condition.

Kingdon said: “Paediatricians are dedicated to improving child health 
equity, and this toolkit will support us to help families – but this is 
not a fight we can win without government action.”
www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/21/children-at-existential-risk-from-climate-crisis-uks-top-paediatrician-says 


/
/


/[ video reading of a published conjecture ]/
// *Existential Risk Prediction by Super-Forecasters & Domain Experts on 
AI, Nuclear, Pandemics, Climate*
Paul Beckwith
Oct 20, 2023
An Existential Risk Persuasion Tournament (XPT) was recently held to try 
to get a handle on the probability of catastrophic risks (10% or more of 
the human race perishes) and extinction risks (less than 5,000 human 
survivors) by 2030, 2050, and 2100.

Over 180 people participated in the tournament, with about half being 
subject-matter (domain) experts and the other half being so-called 
superforecasters.

We all care about the future, and would love to have a crystal ball to 
have some idea of what may happen.

In the recent past, studies and competitions have shown that a group of 
people known as “superforecasters” have made better short-term 
predictions; by about 30%, than both subject-matter experts and the 
intelligence apparatus (who have access to top-secret classified 
information).

I review the results of this fascinating report that was published 
recently on assessing existential risks to humanity.

As a domain expert in climate system change myself, it will be pretty 
clear to you that my view is that the risks from abrupt climate system 
mayhem are much much higher than those examined and discussed in the 
report. I’ll have to partake in the next tournament:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0bg-DIdmQ

- -

/[ Conjecture is a little more complex than opinion ]
/Abstract: *The Existential Risk Persuasion Tournament *(XPT) aimed to 
produce high-quality forecasts of the risks facing humanity over the 
next century by incentivizing thoughtful forecasts, explanations, 
persuasion, and updating from 169 forecasters over a multi-stage tournament
*Forecasting Existential Risks: Evidence from a Long-Run Forecasting 
Tournament
*Authors: Ezra Karger, Josh Rosenberg, Zachary Jacobs, Molly Hickman, 
Rose Hadshar, Kayla Gamin, Taylor Smith, Bridget Williams,Tegan 
McCaslin, Philip E. Tetlock
*Abstract:*

    The Existential Risk Persuasion Tournament (XPT) aimed to produce
    high-quality
    forecasts of the risks facing humanity over the next century by
    incentivizing
    thoughtful forecasts, explanations, persuasion, and updating from
    169 forecasters over a multi-stage tournament. In this first
    iteration of the XPT, we discover points where historically accurate
    forecasters on short-run questions (superforecasters) and domain
    experts agree and disagree in their probability estimates of short-,
    medium-, and longrun threats to humanity from artificial
    intelligence, nuclear war, biological pathogens, and other causes.
    We document large-scale disagreement and minimal convergence of
    beliefs over the course of the XPT, with the largest disagreement
    about risks from artificial intelligence. The most pressing
    practical question for future work is: why were superforecasters so
    unmoved by experts’ much higher estimates of AI extinction risk, and
    why were experts so unmoved by the superforecasters’ lower
    estimates? The most puzzling scientific question is: why did
    rational forecasters, incentivized by the XPT to persuade each
    other, not converge after months of debate and the exchange of
    millions of words and thousands of forecasts?

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/635693acf15a3e2a14a56a4a/t/64abffe3f024747dd0e38d71/1688993798938/XPT.pdf



/[The news archive - looking back at tepid change - I was a voter then ] /
/*October 22, 1976*/
October 22, 1976: In the third and final presidential debate, President 
Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter discuss the importance of 
environmental protection. Carter reiterates his previously expressed 
support for "cleaner" coal.

(33:20--39:19)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CipT04S0bVE




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