Teachers Should Add “Truthful Hope” to Moderate Child Climate Trauma – Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Education and trauma research academics have just noticed even their own kids are being messed up by climate alarmist narratives.

Trauma-sensitive climate change education can develop truthful hope

Published: July 9, 2024 7.27am AEST

Nathalie Reid Director, Child Trauma Research Centre, Sessional Lecturer Faculty of Education, University of Regina
Audrey Aamodt Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Regina
Jennifer MacDonald Professor, Department of Education, University of Regina

…

Doom and gloom discourses encountered at school and through multimedia exposure risk evoking worry, fear, anxiety and hopelessness. 

To enhance a growing understanding of complex climate emotions, we think it’s important to notice feelings like climate anxiety and climate trauma, among others.

…

Canadian youth experience climate emotions like fear, sadness, anxiety and helplessness. In a recent survey by Lakehead University researchers of 1,000 youth between the ages of 16 to 25 across Canada, almost 80 per cent of youth reported climate change affects their mental health.

…

For Nathalie, one of the authors of this story, concern about symptoms of climate trauma hit home when her 10-year-old came home from school with a declaration: “I am not going to have kids. I am not bringing kids into a world that is going to blow up,” referring to what he was learning about the climate crisis.

…

We call for more complex understandings of the social, emotional, psychological and spiritual impacts of climate change education, which we have come to understand as truthful hope. Truthful hope attends to both forward-looking stories and complex climate emotions in the practice of trauma-sensitive climate change education. 

…

Read more: https://theconversation.com/trauma-sensitive-climate-change-education-can-develop-truthful-hope-230817

For some kids there is no happy ending to this story;

The following is testimony given by Dr. Alex Wodak in 2019 to a NSW Ice addiction inquiry. Dr Wodak (now retired) is a renowned Aussie substance abuse and rehabilitation specialist.

…

First, the threshold step is redefining drugs as primarily a health and social issue rather than primarily a law enforcement issue. Second, drug treatment has to be expanded and improved until it reaches the same level as other health services. Third, all penalties for personal drug use and possession have to be scrapped.

Fourth, as much of the drug market as possible has to be regulated while recognising that part of the drug market is already regulated, such a methadone treatment, needle and syringe programs, medically supervised injecting centres. It will, of course, never be possible to regulate the entire drug market. We have regulated parts of the drug market before. Edible opium was taxed and regulated in Australia until 1906 and in the United States Coca-Cola contained cocaine until 1903.

Fifth, efforts to reduce the demand for powerful psychoactive drugs in Australia have had limited benefit and require a new focus. Unless and until young Australians feel optimistic about their future, demand for drugs will remain strong. Young people, understandably, want more certainty about their future prospects, including climate, education, jobs and housing affordability. Change will be slow and incremental, like all social policy reform.

As Herb Stein, as adviser to President Nixon said:
Things that cannot go on forever don’t.

Drug prohibition cannot go on forever and will be replaced by libertarian paternalism. Thank you.

…

Source: https://www.iceinquiry.nsw.gov.au//assets/scii/transcripts/Decriminalisation-round-table/Decriminalisation-Roundtable-Transcript.pdf (available on Wayback Machine)

How do we begin to undo the damage, and prevent more damage?

If our society does not find a solution and change course, the next teenage social media craze could be the save the planet overpopulation plastic bag challenge.