Back in the '90s, my wife and I had a group of friends in the Denver area's small neo-Pagan community. I won't go into how we came to know these folks - it's a long story - but they were nice folks, much more libertarian-leaning than one might think - almost all of them owned guns, and a surprising number hunted - and boy, did they know how to throw a party.
But while many of them were nice, friendly, and considerate people, there was just a lot of stuff that was hard not to see as a little bit daffy, like crystals having magical healing powers, or being able to see people's "auras," and so forth. We had fun and ignored the kooky parts, and in time lost touch with the group.
That was, of course, part and parcel of the larger New Age nutballery that was taking place at that time. Most of the most overtly nutty stuff faded away, as these kinds of fads do.
Now, the whole "anthropogenic climate change" hooraw seems to be resulting in a revival of New-Age-style thinking, in that one can now go to an "eco-chaplain" for counseling to alleviate one's "climate grief." Talk about your First World problems:
When Diane Ware’s home state of Oregon proposed a natural gas pipeline that threatened local waterways, she sprang into action — leading workshops on lobbying state lawmakers, mentoring student activists and organizing lectures at her church.
But when plans for the pipeline were canceled, Ware, 78, found little pleasure in the victory. The retired elementary school teacher couldn’t shake the feeling that it may be too late to save a planet in deep peril — a prospect tinged with grief, anger and depression. Ware realized she had a case of "climate grief” — and needed help.
Ware is one of a growing number of people using the services of an eco-chaplain, a new kind of spiritual adviser rising among clergy trained in handling grief and other difficult emotions.
It's tempting to say that this is a bit of a stretch, claiming that the "planet is in deep peril," but calling it that is approaching British-level understatement. But more concerning is that this implies that people should, or at least do, feel there is some emotional equivalency between the grief felt at the loss of a loved one, and the anxiety felt by climate change hysterics. It's laughable and a bit sad, especially when, as I've pointed out on any number of occasions, there really isn't very much to worry about. Calm down! Get a grip!
Each month, at the Talent Public Library, Ware attends Sustaining Climate Activists, a gathering of mostly retired adults led by an eco-chaplain. She went to her first meeting shortly after a wildfire swept through Lahaina, Hawaii, in 2023. She was upset by a report that claimed news organizations had failed to link the wildfire to climate change.
“I just thought how on Earth are we ever going to get this problem solved if we can’t even talk about it and get good information from the newspapers that we think are the guardians of truth?” she said. “And then I just thought, ‘Wow, I am fried.’”
I won't indulge in any speculation as to what Ms. Ware means by "fried." But it's revealing that she thinks that "...we can't even talk about it." Who's preventing her or any of her gathering of "mostly retired adults" from talking about it? Is there now some moratorium on private discussions of climate change that I haven't been made aware of? Indeed, the fact that they clearly are talking about it seems to put the kibosh on that assertion.
Also, what does it mean, that they aren't getting "good information" from the newspapers? Newspapers are still a thing? Really? And if we can presume that by "newspapers," she means the legacy media, well, we have within the last 24 hours received a rather harsh lesson in how they are not the guardians of truth, or anything approaching it. And the legacy media has been in the tank for anthropogenic climate change since, well, always.
It's no wonder she's fried. That many self-contradictory statements would do it.
See Related: Hot Town, Summer in the City: Was 2024 the Hottest Summer Ever?
This Isn't Science, It Is Propaganda: NASA Is Indoctrinating Kindergartners on Climate Change
While I'm all in favor of people getting counseling if they feel they need it, it has to be said that this is part and parcel of the entire climate-change panic mongering. If enough people run long enough, with their hair on fire and shouting that the sky is falling, some sad and slightly unstable people will start believing them, to the point where it adversely affects their mental stability. And now we have a quasi-religious movement springing up to cater to these people; unfortunately, it's come to this.
Personally, I found the incense and the crystal-waving more reasonable than this "climate grief." At least the incense smelled nice (mostly), and the crystals were pretty.
In conclusion, I can only add this:
