https://axoona.itch.io/climate-anxiety
With the current events happening in Germany, surrounding #Lüzerath / #Luzerath, I keep coming back to this zine by @axoona. I would like to share a few words, in tribute to her work.
Each day, I am confronted with a flood of content surrounding climate change, hundreds of opinions, lots of numbers, and lots of emotionally charged discussions. Simply witnessing this brutal shoot-out of political beliefs fills me with lots of negative emotions. The internet confronts me with countless photos and videos of small groups of climate activists trying to stand their ground against hundreds of both unarmed and armed cops. To me, it is impossible to ignore all of this. It deeply resonates with me. Even if I avoid social media, even if I turn off all devices that would potentially confront me, the ongoing discussion and threat of climate change echoes inside of me. It is constant stress.
There are times in life, when you need someone else, another human being, to put words to your own feelings - because you are being caught in a fatigue, caused by the complexity of your personal emotions.
I am feeling fear, anger, discomfort, sometimes I feel hatred - and more often than anything else, I am feeling something that @axoona describes as "climate anxiety".
Mentally, I had been deeply caught up in the countless fights, that happen every day - online and offline. It regularly occurs to me, especially with the current situation in Germany, that I spiral down in this feeling of "climate anxiety". It is painful, it hurts, it makes me want to do bad things.
That is, why this zine is so powerful. When I discovered it, I got very emotional. It was the first time, that I saw someone putting uncompromised words to all the pain that comes with this whole discourse. Pain, that needs to be spoken about. How are we, as human beings, supposed to save our future, if we lose ourselves in the process? How am I supposed to take part in this, if it burns me out? It is a dilemma, a fight, a struggle - and it requires constant negotiating with ourselves and our boundaries, to protect our mental well-being. It is vital, if we want to continue.
"For now we need to worry about us & the ones around so that one day we'll be ready to take action when we're able to"
There are many important and useful resources surrounding the complex topic of climate change, and "climate anxiety" is one of them.
