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Inside Climate News: Climate Change 'Burnout' Is Taking Its Toll
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23112024/climate-change-burnout-taking-its-toll/Climate Change ‘Burnout’ Is Taking Its Toll
Activists and others on the front lines of the climate crisis, one therapist says, “are living in fight-or-flight mode constantly.” Here’s their battle-tested advice.
By Nina Dietz
November 23, 2024
Heather McTeer Toney is no stranger to being the underdog. Toney was only 27 in 2004 when she was sworn in as the first woman, first African American and youngest ever mayor of Greenville, Mississippi.
Even still, the 2024 election has been weighing heavily on her. On the Monday after, as she waited on Zoom for yet another of the countless meetings she attends, as the executive director of Beyond Petrochemicals, she took a moment to rearrange her bookshelf. “I needed to make sure it was very clear where I am right now, and that’s always reflected for me in what you see on my bookshelf,” said Toney, as she shuffled her books to place the ones with “serious energy” front and center.
Though she knows the fight will go on, for now, Toney is giving herself a moment to catch her breath. “Burnout is so real, and you can’t do this work if you’re dead,” she said. “So you have to share the burden, share the load.”
Based on her years of experience, trauma therapist Rebecca Mangasarian knows taking time to rest and regroup is not just good advice, but absolutely necessary. And people working on climate change—activists, policy wonks, first responders, scientists—may be especially prone to burnout, she said, given the all-encompassing nature of the climate crisis.
…
Activists and others on the front lines of the climate crisis, one therapist says, “are living in fight-or-flight mode constantly.” Here’s their battle-tested advice.
By Nina Dietz
November 23, 2024
Heather McTeer Toney is no stranger to being the underdog. Toney was only 27 in 2004 when she was sworn in as the first woman, first African American and youngest ever mayor of Greenville, Mississippi.
Even still, the 2024 election has been weighing heavily on her. On the Monday after, as she waited on Zoom for yet another of the countless meetings she attends, as the executive director of Beyond Petrochemicals, she took a moment to rearrange her bookshelf. “I needed to make sure it was very clear where I am right now, and that’s always reflected for me in what you see on my bookshelf,” said Toney, as she shuffled her books to place the ones with “serious energy” front and center.
Though she knows the fight will go on, for now, Toney is giving herself a moment to catch her breath. “Burnout is so real, and you can’t do this work if you’re dead,” she said. “So you have to share the burden, share the load.”
Based on her years of experience, trauma therapist Rebecca Mangasarian knows taking time to rest and regroup is not just good advice, but absolutely necessary. And people working on climate change—activists, policy wonks, first responders, scientists—may be especially prone to burnout, she said, given the all-encompassing nature of the climate crisis.
…