Heat Waves and Dying Democracy
It's fine, I'm fine, WE'RE FINE 😵💫
Hello friends! It’s been a minute. Two of the last three Fridays I was driving to and from a remote, rustic set of cabins in Ontario that my husband’s family reunions at every single year. (The third Friday was a crazy work week jumping back into things). It was, for the most part (more on that in a moment), so nice to get away from civilization and work and the usual hustling life. I also discovered I kind of missed my weekly writing connection with you! I like sorting through my thoughts via writing, and sharing reciprocally with readers and commenters. So, it’s also nice to be back. :)
While we were there, the massive heat wave that descended on much of the United States was also present in Canada. The “feels like” high temperature was around 100 degrees and we were staying in creaky old cabins without air conditioning baked by the sun. It. Was. Hot. [Also, I was recovering from recent covid, which I think made my body’s inflammation response even more sensitive!]
Climate change anxiety is a real thing and extreme weather events particularly bring it out in me. So I was already prone to feeling doomsday-ish about the world / the future / our survivability as a species. But in addition, I’m nothing if not a curious wanna-be scientist 😅 so in the midst of my discomfort, I was also fascinated by my mammalian response to the situation.
During the heat wave, I was consumed by thoughts about how hot it was, how to possibly stay a little cooler, and when in the world we would get some relief. Everything felt more basic. More primitive. If it didn’t need done1— don’t do it. It felt so elemental; so based on survival instinct.
The body’s stress response gets activated in situations like this: your heart literally has to beat harder to try and cool your blood off so you stay cool and ya know, don’t die. When your heart is working harder, your body is more stressed. My Garmin watch reported that on the day I tried to do as little as possible to conserve energy except be in shade or near the water, the entire day was read by my body as high stress.
You might already know what happens emotionally when our bodies are experiencing a physiological stress response: Anxiety. Rage. Panic. Despair. So what I’m saying is: in addition to my cognitive self screaming about climate change catastrophes and replaying scenes from the Apple TV series Extrapolations [about the future if climate change continues to unfold as it is], my body was screaming “danger! Danger! Something’s gotta give or we are NOT gonna be ok!”
Luckily I had a handy app on my phone called the Weather Channel to offer a perspective that it would not always be this way. And I knew I’d go back to my cushy life at the end of the week. But I imagined what it might be like if I didn’t know that, or if I lived somewhere else in the world. It hurts my soul thinking about all the vulnerable people in the world trying to survive a rapidly changing climate. I know humans are capable of adapting: other humans have adapted to hotter climates; I’m just a spoiled American who enjoys her indoor a/c. But there’s only so much we can take. Will we adapt to a hotter future? What is the limit before we’re toast? Before it’s too much? What is our game over?
Speaking of heat waves… the Supreme Court just handed down several monumental decisions that sure seem to be spelling doomsday for democracy. As well as the climate: they’ve completely hamstrung our society’s ability to regulate, for instance, fossil-fuel powered corporations that want more pennies in their bottom line vs clean air and water for the rest of us2.
And SCOTUS has decided that it is more important to protect our king — excuse me, our president — from being prosecuted for crimes he might commit in office, than it is for citizens to be protected from an authoritarian more interested in his own power than the good of literally anyone besides himself3.
I suppose Thomas Paine also lived in trying times to be so famous for quoting it, but man, these times — they sure do feel trying. It’s been a depressing week for democracy, as we ironically celebrated America’s birthday.
The SCOTUS decisions and the disastrous debate last week feel like they turned up the heat on our environment and I’m starting to sweat. No a/c, where is my wet towel, find a fan. Will we make it. How long will this last. Will our species survive as everything unravels?
Anxiety. Rage. Panic. Despair.
I hope we don’t get a repeat (but 10x worse) of 2016-2020. I think we can all viscerally remember how stressful it was to exist with any awareness of politics during that era. Let’s just say, strong preference to not do that again.
But at some point, you know that whatever is going to unfold, will unfold. We can try and impact the little things we can. I’m encouraged by groups and people that are focused on state and local level change. There might be ways out of this mess, though I fear how long it will take until the pendulum manages to swing away from authoritarianism again.
Even amidst all this, when the world is falling down, I can hold on to the people and things I love. I can find places of hope. I can be energized by what’s going right. I can watch the sunsets. I can run in the heat — just at a slower pace. I can adapt, at least for today, and it’s possible for tomorrow too.
I am not a native Ohioan / Michigander, but a colloquial use of language around here drops the “to be” in sentences like this one. All the time. My ear has gotten so used to it that now I do it myself!
The Strict Scrutiny hosts make me laugh while also informing me about the terrible things SCOTUS is up to, so there’s that.
Welcome back!! (that's all I have the energy to comment lol)
As a therapist, how do recommend managing anxiety about climate and the US? That on top of everything else feels so hard.