Script for Interface slides
Intros:
I was born In New York but my parents owned an old farm near
Woodstock where we’d spend weekends and summers, also at a camp in
Vermont run by the Seeger Family. I instinctively felt at home in
natural environments and when I was 18, left to go to college in
Colorado Springs where I began to study psychoanalysis (in my spare
time between ski trips and trips to the desert.)
I went on to work as a naturalist for the Aspen Center for
Environmental studies where I was the resident “Ghost”, first on
Independence pass and then here, in Ashcroft, another old mining
town in the Castle Creek Valley. It was here in the Toklat lodge
and it’s “place-based” ecopsychology library that I really woke up
to my connection to the natural world. I was also in psychoanalysis
at the time and the eventual my eventual conclusion was to study
the mind, both for its own sake and to better inform my budding
ideas about how we relate to the thing we call “nature”, that thing
out there that we sometimes choose to spend time with...
I spend about two days/week in private practice, one day a week
seeing clients and doing outreach in high schools with InReach, and
two days/week working with AIM House on the hill. I approach the
work in all of those contexts from psychodynamic perspectives,
which I like to boil down to one very basic statement: That there
might be something happening beyond our awareness.”
7-The quote that’s often been misattributed to Freud (although
he did agree with it) is from Gustav Fechner: That the mind is
9/10ths below the surface. It’s an important concept, and one that,
regardless of what you believe, I ask you to consider and warn you
that much of my perspective on climate change and how to approach
it, is based on the premise that, as my old teacher, John Riker
liked to say, “the unconscious is always at work. You can’t turn it
off.”
9,10, 11, 12- “Many people have called for awareness of this
problem and recently those calls have become louder, more urgent.
Naomi Klein’s critique of the capitalist paradigm, Bill Mckibben’s
350.org, even the pope’s call to action in his encyclical back in
May of last year. All of which are absolutely correct and important
pieces of moving this climate conundrum forward.
Still, the changes we all wish to see have not occurred.
WHY NOT?
12-Has anyone seen this Bob Newhart skit? A woman walks in for a
first session and explains that she’s afraid of being locked inside
a box. His intervention is to tell her “STOP IT!” “You don’t want
to live life afraid of being locked in a box do you!? Stop it or
I’ll lock you in a box!”
It’s hilarious. I recommend watching the whole skit. Linked
here:
This is where applying a psychodynamic lens is quite helpful
The interplay between human thought, emotion and behavior with
relation to climate change so complex that such interventions
simply don’t work. Vim and vigor alone will not solve this
problem.
SO, it’s my contention that as agents of change in this field of
climate change work we need to be as mindful and aware of what
we’re doing and how we’re doing it as possible. Increasing our
awareness of unconscious process will maximize our efficacy in
doing this work, and we may not succeed without it.
14-This is a quote from Harold Searles which I think alludes to
why the call seems to have fallen on deaf ears. So much of what
makes us say and do the things we do lies within the
unconscious.
15-Largely, the conversation about climate change is tends to
deal with the tip of the iceberg. We’re speaking consciously about
things on the surface, and if we want to enact our greatest
potential to create change, we need to learn to communicate with
the unconscious, both individually and collectively.
We’ll look at trauma theory to better understand one aspect of
the unconscious as it relates to climate change and our
relationship to nature, and then I’ll close with some suggestions
about how we can learn to communicate with the unconscious, both
our own and others’.
16-Now, what do I mean by “trauma”?; it’s one of those words
which means a lot of things to a lot of people. I’ll borrow from
these definitions here to summarize trauma as anything potentially
overwhelming. What could be more overwhelming than the reality
climate change?
17-This was the theme of a recent task force report and special
issue from the APA on psychology and climate change. Much of the
content focused on the importance of psychology in response to
climate change (i.e. increased natural disaster =need for increased
psychosocial response). I have the issue here with me if you’re
interested.
This is the tip of the iceberg.
18- The importance of psychology, (specifically trauma theory)
doesn’t stop here, it’s only getting started:
19- This is Sandor Ferenczi, one of the original trauma
theorists. After observing patients who had suffered severe trauma,
he developed a theory that is still relevant to modern trauma
theories. He suggested that in overwhelming situations, people tend
to split off their experience of powerlessness and identify
themselves with the perceived source of their powerlessness. He
called it “Identifying with the aggressor.”
23-Today, it forms the basis of the more popular notion of the
“trauma triangle” or “Drama Triangle.” We could have an entire
semester on this, and its relationship to the emerging consensus
within attachment theory, neurobiology and psychoanalytic
conceptions of “self-states”, but we’ll have to keep moving for
now.
24-SO, how does this relate to climate change???
25-Well, I’ll suggest that we can see these unconsciously
dissociated states of mind appearing in three venues that are
relevant to working on climate change.
26-Those of you working on this issue may have run across what I
think is a common sentiment in relation to climate change: “It’s
hopeless”. Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce the victim
state.
27- Or perhaps, like me, you may have let some not-so-kind words
about the Koch Brother’s fly.
28-Or maybe your chosen villain-of-the-moment is none other than
everyone’s favorite bad guy, H Montgomery Burns? This is the
aggressor state.
29- And, when these self-states get tiring, we might want to
strap on our snowboards, ride the lift to the top of the mountain
and get drunk with a bunch of our friends while we spell out
350.org in the ski slope.
30-We oscillate between these self-states, an as-of-yet
inescapable reality that draws us, ironically, away from
reality.
these self states are also evident in our relationship to nature
itself, and hence to how climate change has evolved
31-Anyone remember this day? This is the some Thursday in
September in 2013, about a week after I moved to Boulder. I stayed
the night in the Boulder Mountain Lodge on Wednesday until they
kicked us out the next morning.
In my experience, floods tend to induce a state of helplessness.
These young women are probably a little less helpless as they’ve
brought their rain boots.
32- What about aggressor states in relation to nature? When we
ascribe names to hurricanes and make statements that “She’s bearing
down on us, or he’s set his sights on Houston”, it’s my contention
that the persecutor self-state is driving the bus at that
moment.
33-Rescuer? Who better than captain planet. The power is yours!
I’m hoping that you’re all thinking about other manifestations of
these self-states in relation to nature, and I hope that you all
e-mail them to me as I’m very, very curious...
35-In relation to nature itself, we oscillate between these
dissociated self-states and it’s my contention that our aggressor
self-state, the state that needs to feel powerful and in control
has led to climate change.
This lens is also useful for understanding our own process in
talking with people about climate change. For example:
36-Maybe this resembles some conversations about climate change
you’ve had?
37- Perhaps this resembles who you’ve been talking to, or maybe
it sometimes resembles you?
38-It’s so much nicer to be the rescuer sometimes. The power is
yours!”
39
These "states of mind" or "self-states" are primarily
unconscious affective experiences, each having their own set of
thoughts, beliefs and somatic experiences, memories, and unique
histories in our lives.
According to trauma theory, they develop in the context of our
environment, both human and non-human.
As long as they remain 'dissociated', we'll continue to
oscillate between them still not reaching the place we all wish to
go.
40-48
49-
What are you adding to the collective?
Speaking of the collective: Here are a few examples of
collective interventions:
50-Cynthia Zarin and Olafur Eliasson harvest some icebergs and
plopped them in the middle of Paris for the recent climate
talks.
51-
Here’s an idea that I’ve been thinking about: Interactive kiosks
of some sort like an interactive exhibit at a museum. Give people a
place to share there feelings and thoughts on climate change, and
let it be seen by everyone else.
52- Novels, fantasies, myths, art; there are few better ways to
access our unconscious than through art and the humanities.
53- Thank you for thinking with us!
