Climate scientist explains how she's dealing with extreme climate grief

Brett T. | 11:00 PM on August 22, 2023

We did a post earlier Tuesday about the first year of New Jersey requiring climate change to be taught across almost all subjects in grades K-12. Kids learn about climate change in ceramics. They learn about climate change in gym class. They learn about climate change in math class and in English. By law. And not surprisingly, a lot of them have developed climate anxiety and hopelessness. We thought they didn't allow religion in public schools.

In the newest issue of Nature, climate scientist Kimberley R. Miner writes about how she copes with extreme climate grief.

A friend sat with me and explained that she had just recovered from an episode of extreme climate grief brought about by studying rapidly changing terrestrial ecosystems. She had started taking weekends off (many of us work seven days a week) and encouraged me to do so, as well. After we talked, I walked around the parking area for a while, listening to the birds and watching the midday light filter through the diverse trees in downtown Santa Barbara. I breathed the ocean air and grounded myself in the present, where the air was cool and the birds were singing.
Soon after that, I started taking weekends off to kayak near my home in Southern California and hike on the trails above Pasadena, and built a small bird garden on the porch of my apartment. I also started talking frankly to my colleagues about the emotional turmoil that is often sparked by working as a climate scientist today, and many others had similar stories. I am in my mid-thirties, working at NASA as a scientist, and I already have five scientist friends with severe, emergent health challenges. They are all affected by overwork, exhaustion and extreme stress. The only other thing they all have in common is that they study climate change.

That's not all they have in common.