Eco-Anxiety And Other Al Gore Transmitted Diseases
If you truly believe that Al Gore and the whole “Green” crowd are in this because they love the planet and actually believe we are in deep shit…I have a bridge I want to sell you.
My sister-in-law works for a firm in Portland that specializes in designing your business to be more eco-efficient. They have gone from a posh penthouse office in the most expensive business district in Portland, to buying an entire old apartment building (a little gentrification) and renovating it into their “Home Office”…these people are making money hand over fucking fist.
There’s green in going Green. But this…good grief…
Sarah Edwards worries about the gasoline she burns, the paper towels she throws out, the litter on the beach, water pollution. She worries so much, it literally makes her sick.
“Fear, grief, anger, confusion and depression,” Edwards says, pointing to the negativity that has manifested itself in real-life symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, fibromyalgia and fatigue.
“I had so much pathos. It’s so sad,” says Edwards, who moved from California’s crowded Santa Monica to a secluded cabin in Los Padres National Forest to help her cope.
Now, she says: “We only drive to the grocery store every three weeks. We have our own source of water. We compost and no longer heat every room on the first floor.”
Edwards suffers from eco-anxiety, the growing angst experienced by those who can’t handle the thought that they — or anyone — are in some way contributing to global warming, species extinction and dwindling natural resources.
She recently launched a blog called “Eco-Anxiety” because she believes environmental dangers should be taken seriously. “This is severely disturbing,” she says.
The American Psychological Association has no official position on the merits of what it calls an emerging field.
But some health care professionals say eco-therapy is more of the latest in a line of money-making gimmicks targeted at the environmentally conscious, an industry estimated by the green group Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability Association at $228 million a year, and growing.
Melissa Pickett, an eco-therapist in Santa Fe, N.M., who says she treats dozens of patients a month, said sometimes she has to tell extreme greenies to chill out for their own good. “The global warming craze will cause your clients to go into extremism fueled by fear,” she says.
And with eco-therapy around, that extremism can get expensive. Eco-therapy can cost as much as traditional psychotherapy, upwards of $100 an hour. There’s a lot of green in being green.
(Fox)
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