If it wasn’t heartbreaking enough that the oil spill is fouling our nation’s waters and coasts, there is yet another toll — the suffering from afar as the oil spill fouls our nation’s psyche. Never before, and I have been a psychiatrist for more than 20 years, have I seen a phenomenon poison people psychologically the way this ghastly oil spill has.

Under ordinary circumstances our darkest and most sinister thoughts are buried deep in our unconscious. But troubling outside events can remind us of what is buried — “awakening” the nightmarish thoughts and allowing them to spill into our conscious awareness. So it is that the oil spill, with its disturbing themes and images - (in Greek mythology darkness and death are father and son) — choking off life, violating beauty, unresponsive to protests, rage, our efforts to stop it — is so much like the force of death itself. Some of us can handle the primitive thoughts that escape after such a throttling from real life events, but not everyone can. For some, the experience coalesces into crippling personal feelings of fear and defeat.

In a chain of associations starting with the spill, last week one patient of mine talked, for the first time, of various methods he would consider using to kill himself.

Eight days ago a respected and life long environmentalist and colleague of mine, committed suicide. Suicides are complicated, but we are sentient beings — events affect us. I can no more rule out the oil spill — on top of other conditions no doubt — as a potential final trigger than I would automatically rule out illness, financial problems or relationship issues.

Two personal experiences don’t make a trend. But ecoanxiety is real.

The psychological impacts of the climate crisis were discussed at a conference held in Washington DC last year. The conclusion was unequivocal: the consequences of climate change will exact a grievous toll on our mental health. From the floods, extinctions, fires, shortages, heat waves and all the rest — will come deepening anxiety, despair, guilt, fury at this generation and those in charge, as well as real threats to our national security by people whose rallying cry includes describing our carbon emissions as an international act of aggression. The group making the predictions included a Noble Prize winner and expert on biodiversity, a four star General, a renowned bioethicist, the head of the American Psychological Association, authorities on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the founder of Anxiety Disorders Association of America, a prominent climate scientist and other environmental and mental health experts.

One of the questions asked was, “How do we get people to listen?

We in the climate community agonize about messaging — “Maybe we are too gloomy...the public has Apocalypse Fatigue...we have to make it look fun to do the right thing...”

But not always matching the words with the intensity of our alarm can feel like we are only chatting or trying to jolly people into getting off the track of the train that is clearly bearing down on us.

And other messages aren’t sweetened to disguise dangers — we don’t hear people saying, for example, that it’s OK to drink and drive — “Hey — be optimistic — you might get there safely”. We warn with images of horrific accidents and present traumatized survivors to lecture. And if you are a teenager or a guilty driver you will be exposed to this repeatedly. Could never letting up be the solution?

And aren’t we furious when we find out that people like the engineers at the Deepwater Horizon oilrig, have downplayed the dangers?

The U.S. Senate in the next few weeks will take up the debate about a climate bill that will likely determine just how exposed Mother Nature and our own psyches will be to all the environmental provocations and years of dithering. Our elected officials need to know that, we the people, are becoming emotionally raw at all the posturing.

And to all those officials “outraged” at BP — and jabbing their fingers in the air on television - we in our living rooms want to know — What are you personally doing in your home and offices to reduce your energy needs? How many of you, up there on Capitol Hill — just for example — are wearing suits in this 90 degree Washington DC heat? Y’all wouldn’t be cranking up the air conditioners so you don’t get too hot now would you? Not too many air conditioners running on solar in these parts.

Then there are the rest of us. We care, but we need to have a good look in the mirror to examine our anguish. Have we taken all the steps we can to reduce our energy use?

It may make us feel good to go after the villains in this story.

But it would make us feel even better to work on making new heroes.

To help wildlife hurt by the oil spill log on to: http://www.homeatnwf.org

Originally published on Huffington Post

One night about 25 years ago I woke at 4 o’clock in the morning and in a tormented voice asked myself “Where are my babies?” I suspect the question was as much biologic as psychological and I had just broken up with a boyfriend. I had a great life — I was in my 4th year of residency in psychiatry and had come from years living in Paris as a student and in Africa as a doctor. But it was time to settle down. I didn’t question why I wanted children.

I had my boyfriends over the years - but as for fathers - until I met my husband no one was suitable. I realized he was the one when at my first Passover dinner he playfully told a couple of nieces and nephews jumping at his side to name the states the broken pieces of matzo resembled.

In three years three children came into my life. I remember thinking that by the time I “woke up” from the experience I would be in my fifties. (I was right.) I clambered about not thinking very deeply about anything - aside from keeping up my practice (part time), my life was focused on keeping my children safe, and nurturing them to feel good about and be honest with themselves.

Until I became a Mom I never really appreciated what mothers do, how selfless they can be, for their children - sacrificing their careers, capacity to earn money, and personal time. If they worked out of the house they would often have two full time jobs. The school functioned and the kids grew up because of the moms - the cupcakes were baked, the stories read, the costumes made, the fights broken up, the stern talkings to about ethics, the lectures on doing homework, cleaning up a mess, giving a helping hand - whether they felt like it or not. Muddy field trips exploring nature and books read about the babies of other species - polar bears and penguins and frogs and butterflies... were opportunities not only to feel cuddly but also to introduce the moral message of caring about the larger world.

And other people’s children - who had their own food quirks and bruised feelings - had to be taken into account. This opened me up to respond beyond the welfare of my children.

The older I got, the more this mattered.

We got to know other parents and their kids to make sure they were hanging out with people we could trust.

The contentment and challenge of nurturing and protecting our babies and creating a community where it all could thrive was apparent.

My three children are now in college.

One night two weeks ago I woke at 4 o’clock in the morning and I heard myself ask again, “Where are my babies?”

I still have a wonderful life. But I squirmed - existential questions usually can’t be answered in the middle of the night. Being with the babies is a sweet time, a place to lose yourself in small spaces that feel safe and magical.

But it is what lies ahead that is the focus now, and it looms darkly, for more than one reason. And mine are not the only babies to think about.

In The Decline of the West, Oswald Spengler argues that all civilizations eventually fizzle out. Arnold Toynbee noted that civilizations decline when their leaders stop responding to problems creatively, and are tyrannized by a minority. In contrast, they grow when they devise solutions to great challenges - solutions that reorient the entire society.

As a doctor, educated in science, I believe it - with good reason - when climate scientists say that what we are doing to the earth with the way we are using energy is a catastrophe in slow motion.

I believe it when they tell me that all across the planet our children are threatened by climate change - floods, fires, diseases, food shortages. I believe it when I hear reports that in some water stressed areas children spend the day looking for water instead of going to school.

I believe it when the biologists say that the frogs and penguins, polar bears and birds and butterflies and the great places for field trips are at risk because of climate change. I believe it when the scientists give the statistics that show we are in a period of extinction, right now, that we have not seen in 65 million years!

To save our planet as we know it, a new kind of motherhood has to emerge. One that responds to the global threat to our children and that mobilizes us to action. If we want to make this house, our planet, a safe home, we will need every single mom on board, urgently.

When corporations that spew CO2 and other toxins into the air and water say there isn’t a problem, we need every single mom to say “Nonsense - Get a social conscience,” and stop buying their products.

When energy is being wasted we need every single mom to say, “Enough! - turn it down, or off,” and march in and make it happen if that’s the only way it will.

When politicians fail to take action or posture for reelection - ignoring the planetary emergency - we need every single mom to say “You’re done. Next up,” and support their opponent or run for the office yourself.

And when 2000 square miles of crude oil bears down on one of the most fertile ecosystems on earth, we need every single mom to say “How many more times?” and holler with the crowd demanding clean energy from the wind and sun.

Moms. We need to be all together on this... extending our hands to make this the most meaningful Mother’s Day ever: the day we stand up for the sisterhood in stewardship of our greatest collective effort ever, restoring the health of Mother Earth. In the choices we make - the products we use, the energy we consume, the climate conscious candidates we vote for and the actions we take - are we all a part of the creative solutions for the society wide transformation we so urgently need.

Where are the babies?

They are looking for us — to protect them.

HOME@nwf.org (Helping Other Moms Everywhere)

Originally published on Huffington Post