by Chris Black
This is literal brainwashing via “climate psychology”.
School strike week 251. Today, I graduate from school, which means I’ll no longer be able to school strike for the climate. This is then the last school strike for me, so I guess I have to write something on this day.
Thread🧵 pic.twitter.com/KX8hHFDyNG— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) June 9, 2023
As Kim Saira scrolled through TikToks showing a curtain of yellow smoke descending over New York, she felt a panic attack coming on. Though she lives an entire coast away from the crisis, Saira began to fear for her parents, who are essential workers in Queens.
“I had to completely turn off my phone, because I was getting so anxious,” said Saira, a Los Angeles-based healing coach. “My chest hurt, I felt like I couldn’t sit still, and I started pacing around. I couldn’t do any work.”
Any fears New Yorkers may have felt about the unfurling climate crisis kicked into overdrive this week, after smoke caused by Canada’s devastating wildfires broke US records for bad air quality. The urban dystopia stoked an existential stress that therapists call “eco-anxiety”.
The Climate Psychology Alliance of North America, a group of therapists, researchers, and artists, keeps a directory of practitioners who specialize in the burgeoning field. College campuses offer guidance counselors for students experiencing stress over climate change, and institutions offer certification programs in climate psychology.