From Wikipedia: Psychic numbness is a tendency for individuals or societies to withdraw attention from past experiences that were traumatic, or from future threats that are perceived to have massive consequences but low probability.
What are some examples? It may be different for each of us, but some examples that stand out include the threat of nuclear war in our lifetime; the urgency of Homeland Security’s daily orange alerts; the danger associated with the mind-numbing numbers of Covid 19 infections; the effect of continuous false statements from government officials. Whereas each of these should raise a red flag and set off blasting sirens, often they become the new normal. The threat(s) may slide into our subconscious, for self-preservation. People withdraw into a small circle of immediate family and friends and become indifferent to the plight of those outside, the other.
When the threat becomes existential, threatening our very existence, the question becomes can we muster the energy to overcome the psychological obstacles to action.
When the arctic ice melts, when sea levels rise, when CO2 in the atmosphere stays above 350 ppm, do these become the new normal? Do we become numb and crawl into our psychic holes.
We here in New England have so far been spared the worse effects of climate change, otherwise known as global warming, or climate disaster. We watch as horrific fires sweep other areas. We watch areas where temperatures stay over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end causing drought and death of vegetation and trees. We watch areas along the coast and islands devastated by massive storms year after year. We watch the disappearance of 60% of the world’s wildlife.
Past summers and winters in Maine usually were harsh, cold and wet, except for the wonderful time between late July and late September. Now we marvel at the wonderful warmer springs, warmer mild summers, warmer winters. But in the back of our minds, we realize something major has changed. It would be a devastating mistake to consider this a new normal.
Greta Thunberg is a marvelous teenage activist whose main goal in life is to demand governments act now to slow down or reverse climate existential threats. She sums it up when she shouts “Our house is on fire”. This is an emergency that is rapidly worsening. Meanwhile, our attention is often diverted to the mundane.
This is not a crisis that can be fixed by individuals. It will take tremendous national and international effort to effect the changes needed.
There is an urgent immediate need to wake out of the numbness. Join or form action groups, hound our leaders and representatives to deal with this emergency now, hound them to join the international community of nations to act, hound them to stop the wars and join in saving humanity and our environment. Write articles in local papers on the need to act. Call or email your congresspeople and insist on immediate action. Shout it from the street corners. Do it for our children.
Michael Green lives in Topsham.
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