Kubler-Ross's 5 Stages of Grief Applied to Climate Change

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified five stages of grief which have recently been applied to many other types of change. The five stages are:

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

It has long been my position that what is commonly referred to as resistance to change can be better understood as one of the first four stages of grief. In my own personal history I have experienced all five stages in relation to global climate change. And while I'll describe that in order, I want to emphasize that my progression through the stages has been far from linear. Before reaching acceptance I swirled and spiraled around and through the first four phases a number of times.

Denial - I became aware of 'global warming' as it was called, in 1991 when I was in high school. I wrote a term paper on rainforest deforestation my junior year and a term paper on global warming my senior year. I'd have to say that for me 'denial' was the first 16 years of my life when I loved being outdoors but had absolutely no sense of environmental ethics.

Anger - Throughout the 1990s I was very angry about the history of Western civilization, industry, and capitalism. In general I felt like the only way justice could be served was if ALL humans (including me) were anihilated and the Earth was left to heal herself.

Bargaining - In 2000 I joined the US Forest Service. I was a GS-4 Visitor Information Specialist. I spent my days talking with visitors about the natural environment and picking up cigarette butts in Sedona, AZ. During this phase I spent much of my time, both personally and professionally seeking ways to balance nature and humanity so that our species could perhaps learn from our mistakes and co-evolve with the Earth.

Depression - I've had seasons of depression throughout the previous stages. There have been times when I feel like we're completely doomed. There have been times when I have felt like some groups will survive but most others will experience cataclysmic demise and death. At I've sought to understand multiple perspectives I've encountered numerous religious, cultural, and philosophical perspectives which predict or suggest a huge die-off of humans. Each time this possibility presents itself to me I attempt to really feel the full depth of my dispair, or sometimes our collective dispair... and somehow, each time I dive deeply into the possibility of loosing everything, I end up experiencing some form of acceptance.

Acceptance - From within depression I have noticed the equisite beauty of the fragility of all of Earth, including humans. My sorrow has been a type of gateway, as if the tears have washed away the selfishness of my personal perspective and left me with the ability to appreciate all of creation. From this place of appreciation I noticed a sense of connectedness with all of creation. I should clarify that the sense of connectedness was not new, but noticing this unity of consciousness while standing on the bridge between depression and acceptance of global climate change provides an entirely different vista. In fact, acceptance has, for me, been a gateway to a sixth stage: hope.

Hope - I stand firmly rooted in acceptance of mankinds past foibles and follies. I can appreciate that every generation has always done the best they could with what they had. I have come to forgive the fires of industry as an amplification of a parent's deep drive to provide well for the family. In acceptance of our present global situation I discovered a number of people who were highly motivated to generate change. I have a deep sense of gratitude and hope for all of Earth and her children. I understand that we're connected and that though there may be a great deal of uncertainty and even catastrophe, I trust that we are learning and we will continue to evolve together.

In my next post I intend to broaden the application of these stages of change and apply them to the myriad of perspectives which I observe when considering the complexity of climate change. To do this I will share portions of a causal loop analysis which I've been developing along with several others.

Creation or Destruction?

The world is transforming. Which is more important, creation or destruction? We're witnessing the collapse of several major corporations, organizations, economies, environments, ecosystems, etc.

Should we focus on the destruction we are witnessing? Should we try to mitigate, bail out, or slow down the crumble? OR should we focus on creating something new?

Any time I discover an either or question I attempt to answer it with "both". It's because I'm tired of the black and white polarity and duality of everything. I'm ready for grey areas... I'm ready for much less certainty and much more flexibility.

I just found someone else's answer to this question of Creation or Destruction... Otto Scharmer seems to be answering the question with "both" as well:

"The rise of the social space of emergence and creation is connected to the dying and transformation of (the) social space of destruction." (2007: page 45)

We can't create the world in an entirely new, healthy, and functional way unless we allow for the dysfunctional systems to collapse. We must balance our impulse to create with our acceptance of destruction.

The next question would be how to find this balance without becoming fearful. Stay tuned. As I explore this in my own transformative adventure I'll share what I discover.

A Time of Extraordinary Change

I feel we're in a time of unprecidented change. My mom maintains that as every generation claims it's adult-hood it has the feeling that things are more intense and crucial than ever before. That makes sense to me, however, this seems different.

There are many stories and beliefs out there to describe what is happening on the earth today. Some people talk about Global Climate Change, some talk about the Apocalypse and the return of Jesus, some talk about 2012, some talk about Mayan or Hopi prophecies, some focus on the reality of economic recession. To me it doesn't so much matter whether we agree on WHY we're going through big changes, but rather that we learn to cooperate and support one another during the transformation.

What story do you tell yourself to explain your present experience of the world?

Every religion and spirituality I'm aware of teaches that it's right to love and share. Yet we still allow fear of other to create exceptions. "Love your neighbor, unless he's different, then you should nuke him." I don't feel like there's time for this any more. In these times of extraordinary change, we must count on the kindness of strangers in order to weather the storm.

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine"

I have more hope about the world than ever before. One big reason I feel so hopeful is because of all the turbulence and chaos. That might sound wierd, but it's true. I have an M.A. in Chaos Theory and Social Change. The reason I pursued that degree is that when I first discovered Chaos Theory it completely transformed my life. (I just love science... and my favorite theories are Chaos Theory, Gaia Theory, and the idea that the universe is a Holograph).

Chaos Theory is comprised of these simple tennets:

1. Turbulence precedes a jump to a new level of order
2. Feedback generates form
3. All systems are universal and self-similar
4. There is a sensitive dependence on initial conditions

I'm not going to bother with a lengthy explanation or trying to prove these ideas to you. My personal experience with growth and transformation is that when the 'poopie hits the fan' in my life it's feedback that I could make new choices and hopefully avoid the same kinds of problems in the future. This came after noticing that I was dealing with the same crap over and over again. Like attracting the same unhealthy relationships into my life. There had to be some reason I kept dating people who really were not interested in marriage and family. Perhaps it was because I hadn't made up my own mind about what I really wanted.

It was just about 10 years ago that I discovered Chaos Theory and since then everything is very different. I now see all turbulence as an opportunity. Everything which used to fall into the category of problem or catastrophe is now viewed as a gift. For example, take this ice storm we had which qualifies as a natural disaster. We went 19 days without power or running water. There were so many gifts, like neighbors coming together, we learned how prepared we are and how to be even more prepared, we stepped up our quest for renewable energy sources, my dad's building a wind generator, the storm was amazingly beautiful, and I got to spend lots of time with my family while I wasn't working.

Oh sure, there were challenges. And yes, there were 2 days of the 19 when I felt pretty depressed. But that was a gift as well.

If there was one thing I could give to any and every person on the planet it would be optimism. Choosing to percieve the bullshit as a gift is so much better for my health and well-being. Maybe that's what R.E.M. meant when they sang "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." There are a number of dysfunctional systems, patterns, and beliefs which I am ready to see come to an end. And as I watch them crumble, I feel fine.

Hope Over Fear

I am both proud and awestruck by President Obama's words yesterday. I am very hopeful as I read and re-read the words of his Inaugural Address. And even though, according to The Economist, Obama has an 80% global approval rating, he only recieved 53% of our votes.

While I feel inspired to write about many aspects of my experience of the Inauguration and the state of the world, what I'm drawn to explore today are the dynamics of duality. There are examples of extreme polarity and duality every where we look. Night and day, black and white, republican and democrat, Christians and Muslims, and hope versus fear.

It is easy to be caught up in an "us versus them" mentality. As soon as we draw a line in the sand to discriminate self from other, we begin building a wall which impedes connection, understanding, and collaboration. We inherit these walls from our families and communities, often without question. The gap of fear and distrust between Christians and Muslims, for example, is said to go all the way back to the falling out of two brothers, Cain and Abel. With the descendants of Cain becoming today's Muslims and the descendants of Abel becoming today's Christians.

Overcoming the walls of our own judements and discriminations requires an expansion of consciousness. To put it another way, in order to see beyond the walls of my own self I must become aware of that which is not-self. I must not only become aware that which feels alien to me, but I must also begin to find some basis for connecting with or understanding something or someone that is on the other side of the fortress that is my paradigm.

How exactly, then, do we choose Hope Over Fear? President Obama spoke at length over this, and I believe that the responsibility for meaningful transformation belongs to each individual.

We are witnessing the decay and demise of all the major systems on the planet, including the global economy, education, human health and wellbeing, society, and every ecosystem on earth. To a systems thinker, the failures of these interdependent systems provide valuable feedback that a course correction is needed. In Chaos Theory, turbulence precedes a jump to a new level of order. The turbulence itself is caused by a rapid and chaotic oscillation between two poles in the trajectory of a system.

I think it's worth taking a minute to break this concept down for you. A trajectory is simply the direction in which the energy of the system is moving. If you're walking north on a hiking trail then the path you've walked is your trajectory. When you come to a fork in the trail you're faced with choosing east or west. Until you lock-in on one choice, your energy waffles back and forth between east and west. Those moments of indecision don't cause too much discomfort when you are just hiking... but when an entire nation is waffling back and forth between republicans and democrats every 4-8 years, there is considerable turbulence. Each time the pendulum shifts "we" feel hopeful and optimistic while "they" feel fearful and afraid.

Case in point: last October I received a widely forwarded email which claimed that Obama was the anti-christ. There are good and honest people out there in the world who are truly afraid that this election heralds the end of days and that we will soon experience a full blown apocalypse. Interestingly enough, I recall that a number of Gore supporters had the same judgements and fears when Bush was elected.

While I am clearly a democrat and am most certainly feeling much more hopeful about the world today than I have in the past several years, it's useless for half of the country to feel hopeful if the other half is fearful. It only causes more turbulence.

Therefore, any one of us who truly wants to make a difference in the world, and who truly want to achieve world peace, must begin to tear down the walls of our judgements. We must cease to define others by how they differ from us. We must seek always to connect with and understand anything and anyone which feels alien, foreign, or threatening.

If you are a democrat, please reach out to your republican neighbors. Begin by sharing a meal together, not by lecturing or brow-beating. Spend time appreciating the things you have in common - loving your children, working hard, doing the right thing, and faith in something higher than the self. This is one thing you can do to work for peace. This is how we choose hope over fear. We cannot afford otherwise.