This article appeared first in the Winter edition of the Revelstoke TIMES Magazine.
The sad stranded polar bear has become a symbol of climate change. I am sure we’ve all seen the pictures and worried for the bear. Yet, the polar bears are thousands of miles from Revelstoke and easy to distance ourselves from the change affecting them. But we have our own ‘Polar bear’ in Revelstoke and it is seeing drastic changes.
If you look at the photo here, I have outlined the ‘Polar bear’ — you may have to squint and be imaginative to see it! This photo was taken years ago, but the front leg of the bear was always visible. A massive tumbling ice fall, blue and perilous, it hung from the cliffs. We would often look up and say, “when that ice falls off we will know that climate change is a real thing…”
Well…it fell.
During the summer of 2022 it finally fell down. The front leg of our local polar bear has fallen off. Climate change is here and the polar bear is shrinking. It is not a far flung event happening elsewhere, it is here.
It’s becoming harder to keep our heads in the sand. Likely you have noticed the smokier summers, the hotter and drier periods. Things are changing, even in the short 23 years I have been here, there is no norm any more.
It’s an interesting dilemma. If it’s already affecting us, what can we do?
I have ventured down the environmentalist path, taken courses, and curbed my footprint by a lot. Probably not enough, really. I still fly for meetings, I still eat meat, albeit less, my electric car is better than gas but it still has an impact. All of this is fine because to properly address this issue we need to be judgement free, so I don’t judge myself too harshly, I am simply trying to be better.
The issue is that even though I have made changes, I feel powerless in the face of it all. We know that we need large systematic changes, yet last year Canada exported more oil than ever before. Watching the news, I am bombarded with devastating images and earth shattering events. It definitely weighs on me. Looking at my kids, I wonder about the world they will live in. Obliviousness is a state I yearn for yet know I will never get.
So, how do I deal with this climate anxiety? Well, for me I have always chosen action. I started taking courses and learning how to curb my footprint, I also sought out community work with the environmental non-profit Protect Our Winters. Honestly I don’t know what the proper actions are and I am curious.
Most likely, you have experienced these feelings too — asked yourself those same questions.
The increased media has created a phenomenon called eco-grief, or climate anxiety, which is a fearful feeling of not knowing what climate change brings to our future.
Thuja, a local sustainable company, is organizing an event to answer those questions. An eco-grief workshop facilitated by Malin Christensson, a long time environmental activist, educator, and eco therapist. Co-facilitated by John Alton, also an activist and counsellor.
If you are worried, or curious and you want to come to a judgment free evening, come join us. Regardless of where you are in your environmental learnings, come discover solutions to build happiness, resilience and community oriented-climate actions. Together we are stronger.
Contributed by Greg Hill
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