By Robert Bradley Jr.
“Climate hypochondriacs deserve to be treated with compassion, much like anyone who suffers from mental illness. They shouldn’t, however, expect everyone else to enable their neuroses.” – Allysia Finley, Wall Street Journal
The futile, wasteful climate crusade has created collateral damage for the cause of the Progressive Left. Their political weapon against ordinary living in a free society has run afoul of ordinary folk, consumer and taxpayer all. And with the government lucre running low or out, and the political forces aligned against them, there is fear, even panic, that their cause is hopeless and unconvincing. “Open for work,” hundreds of climate activists have circled around their names on the business site, LinkedIn.
When the climate movement was at its peak in mid-2022, the faithful knew they were winning political battles but losing the war against carbon dioxide (CO2). Consider Tom Huddleston post, Climate change hopelessness is a real condition—these experts have advice on how to cope.
Here is what Huddleston wrote nearly three years ago (with my comments interspersed):
If you find yourself feeling hopeless whenever you think or read about climate change, don’t worry: There’s a scientific explanation. It’s called climate anxiety, and it’s a real mental health condition that can take time to address, according to Portland, Oregon-based environmental psychologist Thomas Doherty. At the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, on Monday, Doherty spoke about the “learning curve” it takes to combat the anxiety, or even despair, stemming from climate change.
The unnecessary mental health issue of alarmism has a multi-disciplinary cure, but there is a lot of billable hours from ‘climate doctors’ to help a victim cope.
Doherty, who specializes in the intersection of psychology and environmental science, said he often tells clients to try and take a step back from those feelings of hopelessness, which can mean “pulling off of the media, going outside, doing stress reduction, all of these kinds of things.”
He also noted that part of coping means taking the time to accept that as a single person, you can only do so much. “I think the key in coping is making sure that we don’t get stuck on certain feelings, but really growing all of the feelings, which is a process and it takes practice,” he said.
How about some advice to take a walk on the optimistic side, learning the arguments for human betterment from CO2 enrichment? Nope, the mother religion (Deep Ecology) has birthed subdisciplines in psychology and in psychotherapy.
Both the United Nations and the American Psychological Association (APA) have found that humans are increasingly at risk of climate change-induced mental health issues. According to the APA, climate anxiety can manifest in people who respond to the news of climate change developments with “negative emotions including fear, anger, feelings of powerlessness, or exhaustion.”
Those feelings aren’t uncommon: In 2021, a global study found that 45% of people between the ages of 16 and 25 said climate anxiety was affecting their daily lives. The Climate Psychology Alliance even offers a directory of “climate-aware” therapists.
Any CO2/climate optimists in the Climate Psychology Alliance? No, just billable-hour rationalizers.
Doherty argued that those negative emotions aren’t inherently bad, because “we should be able to feel all of our emotions” in a healthy way. Sometimes, he said, it’s helpful to talk through your feelings with other people — whether you’re feeling upset about the environment or charged up about your ability to help.
Okay, so can the distraught be simply directed to such websites as WUWT, Climate Etc., Roger Pielke, Jr or Center for Industrial Progress? Even MasterResource?
“Sometimes, we’re going to be … feeling good and feeling inspired,” he said. “One of the biggest dangers is being alone in the process, because when we’re alone, there’s no one to help us in the down cycle.” Doherty also noted that climate anxiety can be heightened by the sheer volume of negative news on the subject. That’s where people like Alaina Wood — a sustainability scientist, and one of Doherty’s fellow Aspen panelists — come in.
The Heartland Institute can help. So can CFACT. Get out of bed and smell the flowers, the greenery aided by CO2 enrichment, in fact.
At Aspen, Wood said she tries to focus on positives to help viewers address their own climate anxiety, and that it’ll take optimism to mobilize enough people to make a real difference against climate change. She too struggles with climate anxiety, she said, and usually follows a simple process to cope.
“I log off my phone,” Wood said. “I take time to go out in nature, whether that’s in my backyard or in the mountains, and just unwind. And take a second to remind myself why I care, why I’m feeling that way.”
Alaina Wood, don’t log off. Log on. The Internet is an amazing place to learn, and what you might discover might well cheer you up and redirect your passion in a better direction.
————
Also see Psychoanalysis on Climate ‘Denial’? (stranger and stranger), April 23, 2025
It won’t take optimism, it will take a miracle! Climate is the statistics of past weather observations. Changing past observations is the province of nutters at GISS, NOAA, NASA, etc.
Even that only changes past climate!
The future is unknowable.
Oh they’re getting anxious alright-
Elon Musk exposes fraud: There are ‘layers of stealing’ | Fox News Video
Time to start burning Teslas eh comrades?
I saw a report the other day that claimed 40 percent of Tesla owners had their cars attacked in one form or another.
The Radical Left is made up of some really nasty characters. If they don’t get their way, they turn to violence. The sooner we put them in jail, the better off all of us will be.
My understanding from Attorney General Pam Bondi is that those people who vandalize Teslas are facing 20-year, no-parole sentences, if found guilty. I think a few convictions of this type will reduce the attacks on Tesla.
Just think: The Crazy Democrats are attacking Musk and Tesla for the crime of saving the United States tens of billions of dollars. The reason the Crazy Left attacks is because they consider that waste, fraud and abuse is *their* money. Plus, Musk is working for Trump so that automatically makes Musk a Bad Guy in the eyes of the Deranged Democrat Left.
They really are deranged. Just look at their irrational behavior. Kamala gave a deranged speech yesterday. She cackled and told a story about elephants at the zoo. She seemed to be trying to make a point, but I couldn’t get it. Kamala should retire. She doesn’t have a clue about the real world.
That K. Harris story about elephants was trying to Target Trump. Of course she could not resist emotionalizing it with “most vulnerable.”
Remember in the old westerns the settler wagon trains formed a circle to protect against an Indian attack?
So Trump is an Indian (aka indigenous person) attacking. Ok. So, everybody pack up and go back to your historical homelands in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and South America and give the country back to the “rightful” owners. Trump, of course, will stay and be Chief.
Sheesh. What a load of hogwash, including this post.
Thanks to Thomas Nast, the elephant is an emblem of the Grand Old Party. So the imagery of Republicans forming a ‘wall’ to protect the most vulnerable was quite apt. An idea that was lost on the former Veep.
Get on a plane. Fly from Atlanta to Anchorage. Fly from there to Phoenix. Fly from there to Boston. You just experienced climate change three times, and experienced four different climates. Did you survive? Then stop worrying about climate change…but don’t forget to inspect the plane for chemtrail exhaust 😉.
This morning when I left for work I noted the temperature. When I headed home I noted the temperature. In the 12 hour span, the temperature changed by over 35 F. Oh my, climate change.
Now do a linear interpolation out five days and you will see the boiling point within a week. 😉
The truth is that they aren’t interested in getting rid of their “climate anxiety”. They wear it like a badge of honor. They are martyrs for the Cause. They won’t be caught dead at an “Evil” place like WUWT, or reading one of many great books on the subject showing how wrong they are about CO2, and about climate, and how badly they have been lied to and misled. So I say let them wallow in their silly, totally unnecessary anxiety. Because if they really wanted to, they could just STOP IT.
The Shrink should tell the Climate Anxious to: “Snap out of it!” Of course, I guess the Shrink (climate-aware therapist) should “snap out of it” first.
Look at all the mental damage the Climate Change Liars have done to humanity.
An accounting is due. We know the names.
A good slap round the chops would work better, in my opinion.
Making up new “disorders” is yet another way to cash in on the scam. There seems to be no limit to the possibilities of manufactured crisis.
Excellent reference:
Bob Newhart STOP IT! – video Dailymotion
The best way to influence public opinion is through fear and anger. Mainstream media makes the most profit through sensationalized headline.
Humans learn through repetition. Read the same thing enough times and it becomes a Truth.
The psychobabble is pointless until one considers those very real influences.
Well, according to a psychologist who was on a recent BBC4 program it was adviced for people who suffer from climate anxiety to become…wait for it…a Climate ACTIVIST.
That is the preferred therapy. Imagine that!
Better to become a farmer, or at least a gardener! That kind of green activism could do the trick.
Sorry but that would be A: too sensible and B: get their hands dirty as in manual labour. That is not their style. They are usually young online climate alarmists feeding their own anxiety. A negative feedback loop. Digging into actual soil is good for ‘labourers’ and they are mostly still in school, often in cities. Getting off their arses would be the last thing on their mind. Being a climate activist you can do most of it online w the occasional organised protest, virtue signalling all the way.
Yes. Glue themselves to something, or throw paint or soup on some art. Then they’ll at least have something REAL to worry about!
Climate depression counseling example:
Another vector for lawsuits, all these “mental health professionals” are committing fraud, time to strip them of the licenses and accreditation’s and slap massive fines on them. They are clearly causing harm in order to enrich themselves.
I agree. However something as speculative as nova psychology might be difficult to litigate and it would boil down to he said she said kind of trial.
Wait! I’ve got it: Climate Clinics. You walk in, pay $5 for the first 5 minutes ($1 for each min. after), and get to whine, moan, cry, beseech, rend garments (sackcloth and ashes extra), and just plain vent the climate anxiety out to the clinic official, who will simply nod and say yes, and offer other words of encouragement. Then, when feeling better, you can just go to the next door down for an Argument, or perhaps the one for Complaints. It would be Brilliant.
climate anxiety can manifest in people who respond to the news of climate change developments with “negative emotions including fear, anger, feelings of powerlessness, or exhaustion.
The root cause is media alarmist headlines.
It’s worth noting that a high percentage of the 16-25 crowd seems possibly the cohort with possibly the highest degree of climate anxiety. This is also the green-behind-the-ears crowd that’s highly likely to fall for all the drivel appearing on social media and the ones most likely to embrace whatever the latest fads might be. Let them start having to earn a living, paying taxes, and raising a family, and we’ll see how keen they are about shelling out big money or making major lifestyle changes to to fight the non-problem of climate change.