Someone in my writing group recently noticed how much climate anxiety + parent guilt is showing up in my newer essays. She commented that it must be hard “mothering through the Anthropocene.” Honestly, I am not intending to write about these things, but I guess it’s always there. I chose to have kids, knowing all of the environmental catastrophes we are facing. I love being a mom, it feels natural to me and I can’t imagine my life without my daughters. However, I am still terrified by what they will face in their young adult lives.
My youngest is starting Kindergarten this fall and I got her enrollment letter this week. Class of 2035. Many companies and universities have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2048. Where will we be in 2035? How close will we be to these goals and what fundamental shifts are needed to make this happen?
I spend a lot of time reading articles about predictions. “By limiting the planet's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, by 2100, the hope is to stave off severe climate disruptions that could exacerbate hunger, conflict and drought worldwide.” Many of our climate-related goals hover around the years of 2035-2048 as points were we could potentially exceed 2 degrees Celsius, a tipping point, if we don’t make significant changes now. (note: there is ongoing debate on the validity of <1.5 vs <2 degrees C, I’ll save that for another post…)
I fought with my older daughter today about brushing her hair. My youngest daughter is home because her preschool is closed-a precaution because of a potential COVID exposure—and she is bouncing off the wall with energy while watching TV because I have to work. I experience mom guilt every day in big and small ways. However, the coupling of climate anxiety + parent guilt is a whole new beast.
Here are some helpful resources I have found to deal with this or at least engage my family and myself in this conversation:
6 Tips for Talking to Your Kids about Climate Change
How Parents Can Tame the Stress of Climate Change
Earth Island Journal’s Anthropocene Issues
It’s graduation time and I know many families in our community are about the release their sons and daughters into the real world. That in itself is scary! Right now, it’s unfathomable to me that my daughters will one day graduate high school, but I know their time will come eventually. Thirteen years to be exact. (I will be an empty nester in thirteen years—what?) Thirteen critical years to make meaningful and lasting changes. The clock is ticking.