Jennifer Atkinson releases Episode 6 of her podcast “Facing It”

IAS faculty member Jennifer Atkinson released Episode 6 of her podcast Facing It, a series exploring climate anxiety and eco-grief. The latest episode in the series, titled Embracing Uncertainty, is available on apps like Apple podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Amazon Music, and Stitcher.

As Atkinson argues in this new episode, eco-anxiety and climate grief are sometimes framed as “disorders,” but in fact these feelings typically arise from an accurate perception of our ecological crisis. It may be more appropriate to identify eco-anxiety as a “moral emotion” — a sign of compassion, attachment to life, and desire for justice. Paradoxically, then, we can take some encouragement from the increase in eco-anxiety and climate grief across the world, since our very existential discomfort affirms a desire to live in a more just and sustainable world.

Because the fight for climate solutions is filled with such contradictions, the podcast explores some ways we are strengthened by challenging easy assumptions about climate distress. Our future remains unwritten, Atkinson argues, and by embracing the unknown we are better equipped to reframe our thinking in empowering ways. So-called “negative” feelings that arise in response to ecological destabilization (anxiety, grief, anger) can be seen as signs of emotional health, while “undesirable” states like uncertainty are potential doorways to transformation. Climate anxiety might even be seen as a kind of superpower — a signal that alerts us when something's wrong and needs to be addressed — especially while others are sleepwalking through the crisis because their alarm isn't tuned as well. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "the salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted." The time has come for the maladjusted to rise.

This episode also includes extended excerpts from Rebecca Solnit and Clarissa Pinkola Estés.