By Robert Bradley Jr.
“Our psychedelic-climate leaders are active today, creating change and doing compelling transformational work in this space.”
Yes, this group exists. I found out when Emily Atkin of Heated endorsed it with her statement:
Personally, when I take mushrooms, the last thing I want to do is think about climate change. But that’s apparently what I should be doing…. Psychedelics for Climate Action, or PSYCA, argues that the use of mind-altering substances and Indigenous plant medicines—like ayahuasca, psilocybin, ibogaine, ketamine, and LSD—can inspire people to help solve the climate crisis.
The PSYCA’s webpage asks: “With countless climate solutions, why are we in a crisis?” The pitch: “Join a community of 12,000 raising & expanding consciousness to discover pathways forward.”
“A Network for Mycelial Change” includes “entrepreneurs, change makers, creatives, explorers, philanthropists, authors, doctors, scientists, speakers, investors, researchers, marketers, professors, catalysts, environmentalists, artists & more.”
PSYCA founder was profiled as a “social entrepreneur” by The New York Times:
Marissa Feinberg is the founder of Psychedelics for Climate Action, an organization dedicated to raising and expanding consciousness to discover pathways forward. Previously, Feinberg contributed to the co-working and environmental movements by co-founding Green Spaces NY for social entrepreneurs, which was acquired and became part of the global Impact Hub network.
Feinberg launched Triple Bottom Why, a communications consultancy for values-aligned organizations, leading her to work with Nushama Psychedelic Wellness and inspiring her to help bridge these ecosystems.
PSYCA claims “a rising psychedelic-climate trend” led by “our pioneers & catalysts….” Action items (verbatim):
- Psilocybin research in legal jurisdictions – a tool for regenerative leadership
- Consciousness-raising through meditative states
- Activism to preserve the Amazon’s plant medicines and Indigenous wisdom
- Storytelling to drive awareness & action, from TV and film to branding & PR
- Psychedelic therapy for healing self, the collective, and Mother Earth
Bloomberg puts in a good word: “Proponents of a new wave of interest in hallucinogens say the right trip at the right time can change how people think about the natural world.”
Want to learn more? PSYCA offers the following venues (verbatim):
- In-person: Live events, small and large, with curated content
- Online events: town halls, global connectors
- Access & discounts to related events & conferences
- Optional: Private or public directory & networking
- Tools & resources to develop & grow our ecosystem
- Spotlight your work: 13,000 subscribers, WhatsApp groups, podcast (coming soon)
- Access to aligned projects, ventures, and campaigns
I’ll pass…. And the climate movement pretends they are not fringe and ‘out there.’
The PSYCA’s webpage asks: “With countless climate solutions, why are we in a crisis?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. More rain is not a problem.
2. Warmer weather is not a problem.
3. More arable land is not a problem.
4. Longer growing seasons is not a problem.
5. CO2 greening of the earth is not a problem.
6. There isn’t any Climate Crisis.
I have a theory the entire nature movement is because of the social unacceptability of psychedelics during the hippy era. Since they were illegal or at best frowned upon, the hippies all ran away and hid in the forest to try their latest mind bending trip, or in the case of mushrooms, found them in the forest and consumed them in situ.
Then, while tripping out of their minds, they learned appreciation for nature: “The trees, they’re all so beautiful – we need to tear down the factories and make way for more trees”.
Maybe if the hippies had snuck into an industrial estate to get wasted, the outcome would have been entirely different: “The factories, they’re all so beautiful – we need to tear down the forests to make way for more factories”.
And maybe they are followers of Marks and Engels and climate policy is just ticket to tear down capitalism so they can build their workers paradise on the ashes.
For sure, but something definitely changed. Old style Soviet communists kind of liked factories, even if they didn’t run them very well.
Soviets didn’t have to kiss up to an environmental movement which is probably the “something that definitely changed.” of which you speak.
Not MAYBE –
In 1967 there was a TV show with a hostmaster David Silver/a ?
He invited several “hippies” to the show.
They were lying and sitting around on the floor (infantilism is part of Frankfurt Schools polymorphic perversion )
and he asked on of them why they are hippies.
And the dude gave the most profound and insightful answer 99% till this day, and especially the “hippies” do not understand.
“We are no hippies.
Hippies do no not exist.
They are a creation of the media.
We are communists”
Not all hippies were/are communists or hung out in the forest looking for mushrooms. You could buy all you wanted on the street corner.
I served two tours in Vietnam. When I returned to the United States, I let my hair grow down my back, and grew a beard, and became a hippy myself. Not because of anything to do with the war, I just wanted to see how the other half lived. Nobody would accuse me of being a communist or being a forest dweller. 🙂
Personally, I would be very leery of taking psychedelic drugs. People have had some very bad trips and psychedelic’s effects last for hours.
I’ve seen where some psychedelics have been helpful for combat veterans with PTSD, so I would not rule them out as being beneficial for people suffering from PTSD, but I would be fearful that a bad trip might do more harm than good. But some vets say taking them was the best thing that ever happened to them. They are very enthusiastic about this treatment.
“People have had some very bad trips and psychedelic’s effects last for hours.”
Pretty sure quite a few of the climate cultists and zealots have had very bad trips from psycho-delics.. and the effects have lasted for decades.
Tim Leary said the best way to prepare for a “trip” is to carefully plan “set and setting” and make sure somebody is there who is not participating in the “medicine”.
One point you missed. The body stores some of those chemicals and one can have a flashback at an inconvenient or even dangerous time.
Tom, a belated “Thank for your service”. You deserved it then but rarely got it.
(I registered for the draft but the first year (maybe second year?) my number might have been called, they ended it.)
When got home, Vietnam war vets were treated like … because that’s the way the MSM media the war itself.
Nice theories Eric.
But as I recall, the hippie scene was mainly about getting laid without even having to buy the “victims” a 6oz glass of house Chardonnay.
( I admit to nothing 🙂 )
It didn’t work for me – I could never keep a straight face trying to charm some hippy girl with my concern for the dolphins… :-). Anyone who has interacted with dolphins, they’re a nasty bunch. One of them deliberately tried to trip me up for a laugh, tossing a ball under my feet, when I talked the keepers into taking my kid back stage to meet them in person.
dolphins are fun to swim with 🙂
Unless you are in Guam ….. by the sub piers …
I also swim with mermaids whenever I get the chance. 🙂
JZ,
Tell us the secret of how you get their knees apart and we might believe you. Geoff S
sex, drugs and rock and roll- the good old days 🙂
Mr,
I admit to being annoyed by the several females Hell bent over the years on getting inside my trousers with or without Chardonnay. They were not even hippies, just ordinary birds with undisciplined sex urges. They got close to violence when told NO. ‘Hell hath no fury like a filly rejected.’
As to ‘recreational drugs’ – what better example is there of loss of personal self-discipline when ignorant people fool around with toxic substances for some weird type of self-gratification, acting like morons while thinking they are doing no harm.
Now in our 80s and doing well, neither my wife of 62 happy years nor me has ever done illegal drugs, not even smoked pot. We are both alcohol free and do not smoke. Sadly, we have been unable to escape the experience of some lovely youngsters wrecking their brains and their futures by popping illegal pills and seeking some sort of ‘gratification’ for a few hours.
People who deal in drugs and want to legalise them are scum who should be locked up for life for premeditated murder of innocent souls. Filthy, demented people who seek profit from harming others. Ugh. People with drug addiction fail to realise that the drug has such strong effects on the brain that common sense is lost and they ignore actions from people wanting to help them.
Geoff S
“the hippies all ran away and hid in the forest to try their latest mind bending trip”
I went into the forest and became a consulting forester for 50 years. 🙂
Humor – a difficult concept.
— Lt. Saavik
While I see the humor, I also see the core point and its validiity.
Hippies. Back in the 60’s, early 70’s alot went to California. They had kids and raised them.
Now their kids and grandkids run the state.
The most amusing defence I have heard of why someone takes mind altering substances that could possibly kill them if they get it wrong!
You don’t have to take a lot, I believe some micro dose.
Well, it is a trifle subtle for -The Babylon Bee. What a pity The National Lampoon is defunct.
“The National Lampoon”! I loved that.
I remember reading the article that later became the movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation”!
Can one do the wrong trip at the right time?
Or the right trip at the wrong time?
I need the right travel agent for the next time I need one.
I think they’re trippin’.
“Dey be trippin'” is the phrase you are looking for. 😉
I am sorry my dialects are so off. 😉
And always remember,”Dave’s not here, man.”.
Well, three remarks:
— Either these people are genuinely terrified by the certainty of an imminent apocalypse and are turning to drugs to forget, or they clearly want to find a noble reason to get high. I think it’s a bit of both, and in either case, it’s rather sad, and I doubt it can end well.
— The big difference between the gatherings organized by this organization and Woodstock 1969 is that at Woodstock, there was good music in addition to the stoned hippies.
— I’m waiting for a forthcoming article claiming that the mushroom cultures needed for “psychedelic resilience” are being jeopardized by the extreme weather caused by climate change.
I would think it wouldn’t be a very good trip if one believed that CO2 was about to destroy the planet.
It would seem to me that tranquilizers would be more appropriate for them than psychedelics.
As I recall, wasn’t Greta diagnosed with some form of mental illness?
What meds was she prescribed and did she take them?
Well, they growing in cow paddies so they will have to defend the cattle! 😉
Charles,
There has been essentially no good music composed after I was born in 1941.
Geoff S
I don’t know. Some of Glen Miller was composed after 1941. 🙂
Sparta,
Including Glen Miller orchestras of various sizes, since the 1940s music has descended into dominance of the repetitive drum beat. Most music from 2000 onwards lacks compositional subtlety and mastery of technique and structure so well shown by many famous older musicians, typified for me in the 9 symphonies from Beethoven.
Compare the skill with which Beethoven weaves together the threads from each small segment of his orchestra to an harmonious whole with the first notes of modern music so often being from a drum that just goes on and on, bang, bang, bang until the mind goes stupid.
Geoff S
That’s because Beethoven and the other masters whose music has survived as many as three centuries had not only talent but also received plenty of formal training. The so-called musicians of today had neither of the above and are limited to producing works for musical illiterates. That’s the reason that most of today’s pop music will be long gone and forgotten within a decade or less.
A memory comes back to me from twenty years ago after the consulting firm I worked for at the time was bought out by a rival firm.
After the takeover, and after being informed he was being reassigned to another office in another city, my former manager said to those of us who still remained, “We are all mushrooms here.”
Please Emily, keep taking those mushrooms everyday and as many as you can eat. Also, please encourage your friends to do the same.
XR co-founder was famously inspired on a retreat with psychedelics, which seems to have become qualified with ‘medicines’ since the original reports, whatever that means.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-7416263/Extinction-Rebellion-founder-reveals-inspired-taking-psychedelic-medicines.html
Depends on which variant definition of “medicines” one chooses.
Considering that there has been no real step forward in climate science in the past ten years, it might be the catalyst for revelation.
Someone might have a vision of how the atmosphere actually works. What causes the ozone dilution over antarctica, what causes hurricanes to rapidly accelerate etc.
Don’t knock it until you try it.
Past 10 years?
Sorry. Past 50 years.
Prior to that it was not called “climate science.”
Psychedelics for space … exploration. Out of this world!
I did that. Took orange sunshine and went to see “2001 Space Odyssey” at a drive in, back in ’69.
Almost like peyote at a Rush concert.
Orange sunshine?
Are you sure they didn’t sell you just Tang? 😎
“2001 Space Odyssey”. I wonder if it would have been such a big hit if hippies did get stoned and go back to to see it over and over and over again?
Or maybe it was purple haze. But, who can remember- after all, as they say, if you remember the ’60s you weren’t there. 🙂
I still believe that the use of dubious quality psychedelics had a highly detrimental effect on my memory, especially for higher math and chess, that I deeply regret to this day. The Church Committee showed that the CIA became deeply involved in the Psychedelic Movement after studying LSD use in the MKULTRA mind control experiments. Anyone curious to learn more should read “CHAOS” by Tom O’Neill
Incidentally, one day in high school, after getting “stoned” at lunch, I walked into my AP math class to find we had a pop quiz. When I got 100% plus the extra credit problem correct, I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or my teacher! But that was just marijuana, I think.
The greatest lesson one can learn from drugs is; don’t do ‘em! Stupid hippie is, I believe, the ultimate oxymoron; bar, perhaps, corrupt politician!
The obvious question is, does potable alcohol qualify as a drug in your greatest lesson statement?
Alcohol should be used sparingly; medicinal margaritas in hot weather, single malt scotch or bourbon in cold! As a former bartender I can verify that it is definitely quicker than candy, except, perhaps, large chocolate covered strawberries!
People who want to get high will always find a reason to do so without saying they just want to get high.
I never had that problem. Chuckle.
Back in those dark ages, I only stated I wanted to get high. Never saw a reason or rhyme for fabricating an excuse.
Not even, “But I didn’t inhale.”? 😎
Reality is for people who cant handle drugs…
Isn’t that like a 97% consensus of humanity?
At last, someone is doing something about Globull Wurming!
The only “Action item” i can even partly agree with is:
My problem is “Activism.”
Activism in its current instantiations devolved to large gatherings of people holding signs and interacting in less than non-violent ways.
I can agree to “Advocate for the preservation of Amazon’s plant medicines that includes indigenous knowledge.”
Words matter.
Sparta,
Here in Australia we are being forced to pay large tax $$$ for “indigenous wisdom” from people who failed to produce any for a few thousand years as market leaders.
Who cares that the Emperor had no clothes.
Geoff S
If one stays in that state of “expanded consciousness” too long, climate change becomes the least of concerns.
Being too open minded can lead to the Humpty Dumpty/Brain dilemma! All the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot replace a cerebrum that’s lost its moorings!
So they alter peoples’ brains with drugs and feed them propaganda. Got it.
These psychedelic types have been long considered a collection of kooks, weirdos, and goofballs—and those have been just the complimentary terms for them. So now that they’re dispensing advice on strategies for fighting climate change, whatever shreds of credibility they ever had are quickly going down the pipes.
Matter of fact, these things grow naturally on my lawn each September.
‘Liberty caps’ as they’re known in UK/Ireland (that name might endear them more to some here).
Don’t read too much into this, though; I don’t consume them (at least not since I was about 15, long before doing so became illegal).
Instead, if I want to enter an alternative universe these days, I just log in to WUWT
Psychedelics and other drugs alter a person’s perception of reality in a stronger way than simply “getting drunk”. While you’re drunk, you might think you take on that guy who has a hundred pounds on you. Then you find out you can’t. Sober up, there’s no lingering thought that you can. Reality sets in.
On psychedelics and some other drugs, that altered perception of reality lingers.
Sober, “What was I thinking when I threw that punch!?!?”.
That realization is slow to return to those “coming down”. The nonsense still makes some sense to them.