Many climate change scientists tell us that unless we act aggressively to curtail climate change in the next few decades, at the very least civilization as we know it will be decimated, and the extreme possibility that the human race, along with 1000’s of other species, will become extinct.

This has to be taking a toll, perhaps still in the background, in our dreams, as a vague apprehension, a kind of subtle yet tangible anxiety.  Psychologists have actually come up with a term for this condition, called “Eco-anxiety”.  Here’s a definition by Stephanie Watson:

This relatively new psychological affliction is a chronic fear of environmental doom – the concern that increasing human development and pollution are leading us into an inevitable scourge off-loads, famines, heat waves, species extinctions, and ultimately, the demise of our planet.

For the first time ever, the human race is faced with extinction.  Since time immemorial, we humans have always held onto the promise of the future, that even if our own lives didn’t work out that well, at least our kids will have a future to look forward to.

Not anymore.   Climate change has changed all that.  We now must recon with not only our own deaths, but the death of all of humanity.  As a result, it is not unreasonable to think that we are, and will continue to work through the “5 steps of loss and grief” as it was first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying.”

More below the fold.

1. Denial and Isolation

This is where a much-to-large contingency, at least in our country, is currently ensconced.   Most of these are Tea Partiers, or more generally uneducated Republicans.  Of course we have our Republican congress people, most notably in the House of Representatives, who at least officially deny that our climate is changing, and/or that at the very least we humans had nothing to do with it.  Some probably truly believe this, although my guess is a number of them accept our responsibility in destroying the earth, but won’t say it publicly since they are receiving huge amounts of money in campaign contributions and other forms of graft from Big Oil, and other businesses with a vested interest in continuing to destroy our atmosphere.

Of course you also have the religious wack jobs, who believe, perhaps earnestly, that “God will take care of us”.   As Katherine Steward writes in The Guardian;

Cornwall Alliance – a coalition of the religious right – tells us that, as a matter of theology, “there is no convincing scientific evidence that human contribution to greenhouse gases is causing dangerous global warming.”  It also tells us – on the firm foundation of Holy Scriptures – that policies intended to slow the pace of climate change represent a “dangerous expansion of government control over private life”. It also alerts us that the environmental movement is “un-Biblical” – indeed, a new and false religion. If the Cornwall Declaration seems like a tough read, you can get what you need from the organization’s DVD series: “Resisting the Green Dragon: A Biblical Response to one of the Greatest Deceptions of our Day.”

Yes, of course, God wouldn’t do that to us would He?  Well, there is the little matter of the Noah’s Arc story to contend with (and just to remind us about this truth, a movie about it is coming soon to a theater near you).

 2. Anger

This should be an interesting phase – in the U.S., we will have 300,000 angry (and well-armed) Americans.  Of course the mass extinction isn’t localized; it is a global phenomenon, so we will have approximately 7 billion angry folks to contend with worldwide.

The interesting question is who will bear the brunt of all this collective anger.  You can’t blame Mother Nature; it’s certainly not Her fault.  My feeling is She has maintained Her demur rather admirably while we humans systematically tore at her skin and threw our human waste into her water-of-life and breath with ferocity.  Anyway, we human beings don’t typically rail at our own mothers (hey, at least we have ONE thing we still hold sacred).  We can’t blame other nations, or other races, or other religions, since the cause of this death has nothing to do with any of these issues (a morbidly refreshing change from human history, yes?).   The Israelis can’t blame the Palestinians, and visa-versa – neither side directly trashed the earth.  Many Americans will be disappointed that we can’t blame the Muslims.  No, it’s not as easy as that.  What does religion have to do with it (although some might argue that the American brand of Christianity has let to Capitalism, which in turn led to industrial strength unregulated pollution, etc., etc.).  And we can’t make this into a race issue either, since global warming will destroy all of us equally.

No, my guess is we will hone in on the “captains of industry”, or more generally, the 1%, whose practice of “externalizing costs” (i.e., polluting everything and anything at someone else’s expense – usually us taxpayers) will present a readily available (and most likely for the most part, “guilty”) target.  They will be our scapegoats.   It will start with angry mobs, and then evolve into something more organized, zeroing in on specific geographical targets, like gated communities.

My brother-in-law lives in one of these (yep, he’s a genuine 1%er), and has this rather ostentatious and in my opinion rather tasteless (the architects tried to blend 4 or 5 different styles of architecture consisting of, as best I can tell, Italian, American contemporary, cape-cod, Tudor, and ranch) guard gate.  The guard gate is manned by a not-so-intimidating rent-a-cop, usually a cheery college student trying to keep his/her college loans below 6 figures.  I’ve talked to my brother-in-law about this, and suggested that their “defense” system won’t repel a few hundred, or few thousand well-armed and angry mobsters.  Their neighborhood association might want to consider hiring a militia, or, if they want to go cheap, a few hundred well trained pit bulls.  The compound is also surrounded by a tall wall.  But is really nothing a 10 foot ladder from Lowe’s or Home Depot couldn’t handle.  Who knows maybe even grappling hooks will stage a comeback, especially with the more athletic 99%ers.

I’ve also advised my brother-in-law to get rid of his Mercedes-Benzes SLS AMG GT Sports Coupe while it still has some resale value.   It won’t be “welcome” on the majority of non-gated public streets for very long.

DISCLOSURE:  My motives aren’t entirely selfless; I have tried on several occasions to extort money from him by offering to NOT tell my 99%er buddies his name and address.  So far, he has declined my offer.

3. Bargaining

This will be a tough one.  How do you bargain with Mother Nature?  “Hey Mama Nature, if you stop this climate change business we human’s will promise to pollute anymore…really, cross our hearts and hope to die!”.   Folks from the religious right will maybe consider making a deal with the Devil, since their holy hind-ends are directly on the line, but this will fail, as they will have to finally come to terms with the fact that the Devil doesn’t really exist (hey, maybe climate change will have a few positive, if short lived, effects on us all).

4. Depression

I know many forward thinking and usually sensitive people, artists, environmentalists, and other folks that actually care about the human race, that are in this stage already.  I am fascinated by the music of Lana Del Rey, a popular pop music singer/song-writer.    She already seems to be echoing the angst and ennui of the millennial generation.  In a recent AlterNet article, Lynn Stuart Parramore, provides this insight into her music:

Lana Del Rey is pushing the envelope, and here’s her message, delivered with a languid pout: 21st-century America is a rotting corpse, deadlocked culturally, economically, and politically. Since there’s nothing we can do about it, let’s enjoy ourselves as the body-politic disintegrates, perhaps by savoring some toothsome bites of the past: candy-colored Super 8 films, juicy jazz tunes and clips of sultry screen sirens. The future is a retrospective.

“It’s a love story for the new age
For the six page
We’re on a quick sick rampage
Wining and dining
Drinking and driving
Excessive buying
Overdose and dyin’
On our drugs and our love
And our dreams and our rage”

Lana Del Rey taps into the futility of our future.

5. Acceptance

Well, I guess this is the part where we bend over and kiss our collective asses’ goodbye.  Hopefully, we won’t get this far along, and within the next 10 or 20 years the collective souls of our once-beautiful earth will unite and actually address the issue of climate change.   As I watch the nations of Israel and Palestine tear each other apart, bombing hospitals, killing children and hundreds of innocent civilians, I am not encouraged.    As our lust for oil continues around the globe – I am not encouraged.  As the majority of our citizen’s cry for alternative energy solutions, yet these cries go unheeded by our government and Wall Street – I am not encouraged.

But hey, maybe it’s just my “Stage 3” that’s talking.