118 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009 DOI: 10.1089/eco.2009.0034
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Loss and Climate Change: The Cost of
Parallel Narratives
Rosemary Randall
Director, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Cambridge,
United Kingdom.
Abstract
Climate change discourses present two parallel narratives—one
about the problems of climate change and the other about the
solutions. In narratives about the problem of climate change, loss
features dramatically and terrifyingly but is located in the future
or in places remote from Western audiences. In narratives about
solutions, loss is completely excised. This article suggests that this
division into parallel narratives is the result of a defensive process
of splitting and projection, which protects the public from the need
to truly face and mourn the losses associated with climate change.
Its effect is to produce monstrous and terrifying images of the
future accompanied by bland and ineffective proposals for change
now. A more sophisticated understanding of the processes of loss
and mourning, which allowed them to be restored to public narratives,
would help to release energy for realistic and lasting programmes
of change. Psychoanalytic models of grief and loss may
be particularly helpful in achieving this understanding. Drawing
on practical work with small groups in Cambridge, UK, the article
proposes that William Worden’s typology of the tasks of mourning
and their negatives provides an appropriate model both for
developing a culture of truthfulness, leadership, and appropriate
support and for developing practical programs that would help
members of the public to work through acceptance of changes that
may threaten aspiration, culture, security, and identity.
Introduction
T
he past 5 years have seen increased sophistication in the
ways that climate change is presented to the public. In
the United Kingdom the work of sustainability consultancy
Futerra (www.futerra.co.uk) and the charity COIN
(Climate Outreach Information Network www.coinet.org.uk) have
been influential in persuading both activists and government to
adopt techniques from social marketing, to examine their image
and communication style and to match their message to the concerns
and aspirations of their audiences. Despite this, news from
the frontline suggests that many of the public nonetheless respond
with indifference, apathy, or cynicism and that increased awareness
of climate change does not necessarily translate into appropriate
concern and action. See for example the UK government’s
2008 report “A framework for pro-environmental behaviours”
(Defra, 2008) or the UK Department of Transport’s 2009 report
“Exploring public attitudes to climate change and travel choices:
deliberative research” (King et al., 2009).
Can a deeper psychological understanding help us in this
dilemma? Renee Lertzman’s research reported in The Ecologist
(Lertzman, 2008) alerts us to the role anxiety can play in an
apparently apathetic response. In this article, I suggest that a
more sophisticated understanding of the processes of loss and
grief, based on psychotherapeutic practice, might also be useful.
This suggestion comes from my work with “Carbon Conversations”
(Randall, 2009 and www.carbonconversations.org), a model of
small support groups, developed in the United Kingdom, whose
goal is to achieve major, personal carbon reductions. The groups’
success stems from their emphasis on the emotional significance
of making deep changes: of the pain, loss, and grief that may be
involved, of threats to identity and status, and of the importance
of people coming to feel ownership and find their own way to the
changes that we all need to make.
While loss features strongly in predictions about the long-term
effects of climate change, it is not fashionable to suggest that loss
is inevitably a consequence of mitigation. This is not a message
that the public wants to hear, nor is it a message that politicians are
enthusiastic to promote. It is possible, however, that beneath the
veneer of much public indifference or cynicism, there is an underlying
perception of threatened, personal losses, possibly from climate
change itself but certainly from attempts at mitigation.
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 119
the destructiveness felt and the damage done. Klein sees much
creative and artistic activity as stemming from the need for reparation.
Winnicott (1963) places less emphasis on guilt and reparation
and more on what he calls the development of the capacity
for concern. He describes a dynamic relation between the infant’s
ruthless use of the mother and the opportunities that are created
in the infant–mother relationship for the infant to contribute to
her. One might think of the contrast between the urgent, greedy,
demanding, suckling of a hungry baby and the beautific smile
with which he then rewards his mother. In Winnicott’s view these
experiences allow the infant to manage his ambivalent instinctual
impulses without too much anxiety and lay the groundwork
for the individual to feel concern for others and to engage creatively
in personal and social life. Both Klein and Winnicott see
the capacity to tolerate and integrate the knowledge of ourselves
and others as both good and bad, as essential for mental health
and development. Both authors also see the possibility of regressing
to the earlier state of splitting, where good and bad in both
self and other are deemed to be separate, unrelated experiences.
This remains throughout life as a potential, extremely powerful,
psychological defense. Unflattering parts of the self, unacceptable
desires or unwelcome knowledge can be split off and projected
into other people, other times or other places. The consequence is
to produce a world of extremes, where what is good is idealized
and what is bad becomes monstrous. What we see in the treatment
of loss and climate change is a process where fear of loss leads to it
being split off and projected into the future. The present continues
to feel safe but at the expense of the future becoming terrifying.
On the one hand, nightmare, on the other false comfort.
In contrast to the apocalyptic representations of the future,
explore the bland, unchallenging, nature of the dominant solution
narratives.
Small steps. In this story, we all need to “do our bit”: change our
light-bulbs, ease off on the accelerator, and top up the loft insulation.
Painless, feel-good, easy steps by committed and empowered
citizens set the nation on the road to climate-recovery. This is the
message of the UK Government’s Act on CO2 campaign (http://
campaigns2.direct.gov.uk/actonco2/home/about-us.html) and the
promotions of its Energy Saving Trust www.energysavingtrust.
org.uk.
Market transformation/green consumerism. In this story,
change is attractive and aspirational. Old objects of consumer
delight can be swapped for new ones. Just as the Victorian age of
cluttered bric-a-brac gave way to the clean lines of modernism,
so also our attraction for fast cars and trashy plastic novelties can
If this is the case then the consequence is that change will
be forestalled. When loss remains unspoken, neither grieved nor
worked through, then change and adjustment cannot follow. A
better understanding of loss might allow it to be brought back into
public discourse; to inform our personal communication about
climate change; and to suggest alternative support structures that
would facilitate both personal and political work. This in turn
would allow positive messages and actions to flourish instead of
being inhibited or idealized.
Parallel Narratives
Climate change discourses present two parallel and disconnected
narratives—one about the problem, the other about the
solutions.
In the narrative about the climate change problem, loss is a
dominant theme: loss of bio-diversity, loss of habitat, extinction
of species; crop failure, water shortage, drought; fuel scarcity,
resource wars, illness and famine; loss of livelihood, loss
of liberty, mass migration, breakdown of civilization. The losses
described are catastrophic but, for audiences in the developed,
industrialized nations, they are remote, either far in the future, or
geographically distant. They will happen to other people, in other
places, or in other times. The consequence is that the loss feels
unreal, rather like acknowledging in one’s twenties that death is
inevitable. It is not a problem for now.
A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Climate Change Narratives
In contrast the narratives about climate solutions largely ignore
the question of loss. Although they imply that if we do not act
now, then catastrophic losses will occur, they do not raise the possibility
that we might already be experiencing losses or that the
actions that need to be taken to avert catastrophic loss themselves
involve loss. Psychologically, we can understand this as a process
of splitting and projection. Psychoanalytic theories argue that the
infant only gradually comes to realize that the adored mother who
provides, love, milk, comfort, and nurture is the same person as
the hated mother, who fails the child, through faulty attunement,
meeting needs too late or too little, or through refusal and discipline.
Understanding and becoming able to cope with this ambivalence
is seen as a major psychological milestone. Melanie Klein
(1940/1975) calls this the depressive position: as the child comes
to realize that good and bad experiences emanate from the same
person and begins to appreciate the personhood of the mother,
so he or she starts to experience guilt for both phantasized and
real attacks. From guilt, develops the need to offer reparation for
RANDALL
120 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009
From a psychological perspective, we can speculate on what
is being defended against through these omissions. Prominent is
the fact that loss scarcely features. Yet in conversation with the
public, loss creeps in. We encounter suspicion that, in reality, they
will be asked to make changes that they find unpalatable, that
will cost them money they do not wish to pay, or that they are
being asked to make sacrifices that will damage their interests.
They perceive threats to relationships, livelihood, aspirations,
material wealth, way of life, status, and identity.
They are right to be suspicious. If we do deal with climate
change then it is likely that:
• we will spend more of our income on essentials like housing
costs and food, less on nonessentials like clothing, holidays,
and entertainment;
• cheap flights will disappear;
• ordinary people will travel less;
• some familiar jobs will vanish;
• some of our more individualistic freedoms will be curtailed
or become very expensive.
This is not to say that life will be miserable or that people in
the West will suffer material hardship. However, the changes are
not necessarily easy, welcome, or attractive. They are likely to
be experienced as attacks on the aspects of life that people hold
dear: family and attachment, aspiration and progress, individuality,
identity, and the self.
Take for example a young woman whose car is her cocoon.
She has chosen it for its color and style. She fills it with personal
comforts—her CDs, a favorite rug, a mascot, water-bottle, and tissues
within easy reach, radio tuned to her favorite station. Snug
inside, she feels safe. At the start of the day, it helps her make
the transition from sleepy, child-like dependence to independent,
responsible, working woman. At the end of the day, its privacy and
containment comfort her from the bruises of working life. Its outward
gleam and shine speak of her success. Its inner warmth and
comfort acknowledge her fragility. It both protects and expresses
her identity. The suggestion that she might take the bus to work
or lift-share with colleagues will not be appealing. Aspiration,
lifestyle, security, and identity are all instantly under threat. We
should not be surprised at a negative response to the suggestion.
These are issues that psychotherapists would see as inevitably
brought into play when a major loss either occurs or is threatened.
How can theories and models of loss help us in talking about climate
change, helping people face the future, and supporting them
to make real carbon reductions?
be replaced by a desire for solar panels, efficient fridges, and a
service economy. In this story, action on climate change becomes
part and parcel of ordinary consumer lifestyles.
Technology will save us. In this story the boffins (all those
professors in white coats, pebble-glasses, and crazy hair) have
the answers—whether it is renewables, nuclear power, or geoengineering.
Once they have their hands on the resources they need,
they will deliver a world much like the one we know. Most of
the solutions presented as part of the recent Manchester Report
(Manchester Report, 2009) were from this stable.
Decarbonization. This is the narrative offered by Sir Nicholas
Stern (Stern, 2007) and goes hand in hand with the dependence on
technology. In this story, economic growth is unaffected. Highcarbon
forms of energy are exchanged for low-carbon ones and
deliver a future very similar to the one we know now in the West.
Economic growth continues, individuals’ lives change little.
The happiness tale. In this story, life will change but we will
find it preferable. We will be happier because the new low-carbon
world will bring us a closer sense of community, more meaningful
work and more time to spend with our families. Pioneering work on
the relationship between economic growth and happiness has been
done by the Ecological Footprint movement (Chambers, Simmons,
& Wackernagel, 2000) and the New Economics Foundation (www.
happyplanetindex.org). A more romantic version of a preferable
future is found among Transition Town enthusiasts (Hopkins,
2008). The theme has also been taken up with enthusiasm in a
wider context by the economist Richard Layard (2006) and the
psychologist Oliver James (2007).
There is certainly truth in all of these narratives. Small steps
must be made; some of the new objects may be attractive; decarbonization
and technological change will be necessary; some
changes will bring social benefits. However, as these narratives
are played out, their weaknesses also emerge.
How small steps might lead to large ones is not defined. In fact,
it turns out that there is no reliable evidence that they do. How
many people will actually embrace the new consumer delights, or
find them attractive, is not estimated. How they will move out of
a niche market is not addressed. How economic growth can continue
in a genuinely decarbonized world is not described. How
biodiversity can be protected in the high-tech futures is not discussed.
How the proposed version of happiness plays out against
the aspirations and identities of diverse social classes, or the realities
of entrenched economic interests is not considered. A good
critique of the “small steps” approach can be found in Crompton
(2008).
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 121
emphasis on the shortness of time and urgency, it demands immediate
preparation and adjustment.
For ongoing work, however, Kubler-Ross’s model has major
shortcomings in relation to climate change. It is a model from
the end of life. It describes an experience without transition and
without hope. The individual who is dying faces extinction, the
loss of loved ones, and the ending of their creative life. There is
little or no time ahead and little that can be looked forward to.
A dying person has much to be depressed about and an extraordinarily
difficult adjustment to make. In contrast, when facing
climate change we still have much to hope for and much to
play for. The changes and adjustments we make also need to last
across substantial periods of time. Sustaining our creativity and
resourcefulness is essential. We have the chance to remake our
lives. Other models of loss may be more appropriate.
Bowlby and Parkes
In contrast to Kubler-Ross, the work of John Bowlby (1973)
focused on loss in early life the loss experienced by infants and
small children who face separation from their attachment figures,
either permanently or through temporary absence. Bowlby
describes a broader range of emotions—disbelief, distress, yearning,
longing, and searching alternating with anger and withdrawal;
disorganization and the need to reshape identity around
a new attachment figure and a new way of life. Bowlby’s focus
on the effects of bereavement on identity and on the processes of
recovery suggest that more creative and fruitful outcomes may be
possible than the limited acceptance suggested by Kubler-Ross’s
model. Parkes (1975) who used Bowlby’s work in his studies of
bereavement among adults, also places much greater emphasis
on questions of identity, on the necessity of time in the working-through
of grief and on the necessary incompleteness of the
process. The focus in both Bowlby’s and Parkes’ work is on recovery
and on the future rather than on adjustment and acceptance.
Their emphasis on the effect of loss on identity is also helpful in
addressing some of the resistance and anxiety to changes that
proposals for carbon reduction typically bring.
Worden
The most complex model and, in relation to climate change, the
one I have found most useful, however, is that of Worden (1983).
Building on the work of Bowlby and Parkes, Worden suggests that
the work of grief is a series of tasks that can be embraced or
refused, tackled, or abandoned. He sees the work as always in
progress, never complete. Life will never be the same again, but
Typologies and Theories of Loss
The model for all analyses of loss is death. This is where Freud
started in his seminal work “Mourning and Melancholia” (Freud,
1917), where he described the relationship between the normal
work of mourning, where the ego gradually detaches itself from
the lost object, and depression—the prototype for all unfinished
grieving. Contributions by Klein (1940/1975), Bowlby (1973),
Parkes (1975), Kubler-Ross (1970), Worden (1983), and others have
led to a number of models of mourning being developed from
Freud’s early work and applied to a variety of losses and separations,
from the transitions between life stages to the loss of
employment, health, friendship, miscarriage, pets, or career. All
theories and models of mourning suggest that it is a process in
which painful accommodation has to be made to absence and
finality; the emotions, attachment, and investment connected to
the lost person or lost object have to be withdrawn. Energy has to
be directed elsewhere.
Kubler-Ross
One of the best-known models is that derived from Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross’s work on death and dying (Kubler-Ross, 1970).
Kubler-Ross worked with the terminally ill in the 1960s in a
period, where the truth of the diagnosis was frequently kept
from the patient. She was prominent in developing a culture of
greater honesty toward patients. She proposed a five-stage model
describing the process that people who have received a terminal
diagnosis typically go through in adjusting to the reality and
proximity of death.
A first phase of shock and denial gives way to anger, followed
by attempts at bargaining. Here the dying person seems to argue
with death itself—“Give me time to finish x/visit y/have one last z,
and I will go happily.” When this is relinquished in the face of the
implacability of death, depression, and finally acceptance result.
In the stage of acceptance the person becomes able to work creatively
with the short time left to them, dealing with their affairs,
and preparing realistically for their end.
The model has proved popular in industry among people working
on the management of change. It may be favored by corporations
because they wish, like death, to be implacable, to brook no
disagreement, and enter into no bargains. It has also found favor
in some work on climate change. Steve Running uses it very effectively
in his short article “The 5 stages of climate grief” (Running,
2007) to clarify some of the typical responses to climate change.
Superficially the model works well. Like death, climate change
will not wait and it will not relent: the model has an appropriate
RANDALL
122 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009
he look beautiful and peaceful.” It was only when, several
hours later, her mother arrived that she began to sob and wail
uncontrollably. (p. 90)
George Marshall (2007) describes in his book “Carbon Detox”
how, despite years of immersion in the science and campaigning,
it was a long time before the emotional reality caught up with
him:
Belief in climate change is not a switch – it exists in degrees
and it takes years to acquire. (p. 88)
It is common to meet people who are stuck in an intellectual
acceptance of climate change. They are able to chat concernedly
about the latest climate predictions, interspersed with tales of their
weekend in Barcelona. Moving to a lived, emotional experience of
the reality and then beyond that, to an acceptance of the irreversibility
of some of the losses seems beyond them. Rather than condemn
them, we might do better to see them as needing support, like
Holmes’ young wife who could not let the reality of her husband’s
death penetrate her full being until her mother had arrived.
Working through the painful emotions
Worden’s second task alerts us to the complexity of emotion
that acceptance of the reality of climate change may bring and
also to the consequences of continued denial or the consequences
of an inability to work through the painful feelings. We should
expect people to be sad and angry, to feel guilt and shame, to yearn
for that which is lost, to search for more comforting answers, to
bargain, rage, and storm.
One group I worked with were particularly resistant to the idea
that they should monitor their household energy use and travel.
meaning may be restored and it may become possible to flourish
once more. The work may falter or stall, the bereaved person
may return to an earlier stage, sink into depression, abandon their
attempt at recovery, take heart again, move forward, and so on.
In each of the stages Worden suggests that either the task, or what
he calls its negative, may be embraced. In Table 1 below, I have
adapted Worden’s categories slightly, adding one or two elements
from other models.
It seems to me that this model offers more hope and more practical
assistance, both in understanding some of the reactions we
encounter from the public and in dealing with them. The examples
below come from written sources, individual conversations about
climate change, and from “Carbon Conversations” groups, where
I have used Worden’s model as a framework for understanding
resistance, facilitating the working through of difficult emotions,
and the emergence of a reframed identity and energy.
Accepting the reality of the loss
The idea of denial has certainly gained currency in discussions
of climate change, though often without deep understanding of
what it means psychologically. The phrase is often used with disapproval
and a hint of contempt for those who are deemed to be
“in” it. Using Worden’s idea of the task allows us to see that there
is a process to be gone through in which denial will inevitably
feature, at different levels and intensities. It can be an important
protection, allowing the most painful truths to be assimilated
piece by piece. Jeremy Holmes (1993) describes a young wife’s
reaction to her husband’s death in an accident:
She was completely and chillingly calm, expressing no emotion,
simply saying: “Oh, but he’s not dead, he’s asleep, doesn’t
Table 1. The Tasks of Grief
THE TASK POSSIBLE NEGATIVE RESPONSES
1 Accepting the reality of the loss, first intellectually and
then emotionally
Denial of the:
• facts of the loss;
• meaning of the loss;
• irreversibility of the loss.
2 Working through the painful emotions of grief (despair,
fear, guilt, anger, shame, sadness, yearning,
disorganization)
Shutting off all emotion, idealizing what is lost, bargaining,
numbing the pain through alcohol, drugs, or manic activity
3 Adjusting to the new environment/acquiring new skills/
developing a new sense of self
Not adapting, becoming helpless, bitter, angry, depressed,
withdrawing
4 Reinvesting emotional energy Refusing to love, turning away from life
Source: Adapted from Worden (1983).
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 123
It may seem harsh to suggest that some of those most concerned
with climate change have difficulty in truly accepting its losses.
However, grief is no respecter of persons and to grieve for something
that many people deny is even a loss is a difficult task.
Adjusting to the new environment
The first steps that widows and widowers take in creating a
new life for themselves are frequently painful. It is often a period
of false starts and disappointments as well as the discovery that
a new or different life can be created and that it is still possible
for there to be pleasure and meaning. What is crucial is the level
of support people receive, the welcome extended to them, and the
opportunity to deal again with the painful emotions of Worden’s
second task as they make their first steps into the third. Issues
of identity can be central here. Who am I if I am no longer Joe’s
wife? Who am I if I no longer arrive at the school gates in a BMW
and holiday with friends in Florida?
With regard to climate change, there is a need for social groups
that make sense to people, activities that are rewarding, and multiple
points of identification for the “climate-concerned citizen.”
If the only alternative identifications are those of activist or green
campaigner then many who might take personal action will feel
excluded and retreat. In the early stages of involvement people
can feel disorientated and the support needs to be personally
appropriate:
“It felt weird trying to explain to my butcher, who I’ve known
for years, that the reason I’m buying less meat isn’t the money
but the carbon emissions. I felt he must see me as a freak,
though actually he was quite polite,” said one group member.
“I feel better in this group,” said another. “I don’t feel odd like
I do at work; it makes it seem normal.”
The negatives of this task will be familiar to anyone who has
talked about climate change to the unwilling.
• “It’s all right for you,” conversations;
• bitterness at the feeling of having things taken away;
• desire that such a depressing subject should not be spoken of;
• blaming the messenger with accusations that it is a conspiracy
to prevent “people like me” having the things they want/
need.
Reinvesting emotional energy
The hoped for result of mourning is that emotional energy is
freed up for living. The dead person or lost object is not forgotten
Somehow, they just didn’t get round to it. “It hadn’t been a typical
week,” said one. “I meant to, but I was busy,” said another.
Feelings of guilt, shame, and the fear of being judged lay behind
the resistance. Bringing these into the open and providing reassurance
was necessary in order for people to manage the task.
A group talking about travel, began to share stories of journeys
they had made that they would not make again. There was
a mood of deep sadness about the losses they were accepting that
needed to be acknowledged, contained, and respected.
The negatives of this second task can be complex but, in regard
to climate change, it seems to me that they lead to a reluctance to
act at a personal level, or to special pleading, a desire to be a special
case. Rather than condemn such people as hypocrites it might be
more helpful to see them as stuck in the difficulties of this second
task. Bargaining—one of Kubler-Ross’s stages, which I place here—is
familiar. “I know we’ll be flying,” said a young climate researcher,
talking about his planned holiday in South Africa, “but we don’t
have a car so I expect it roughly balances out. Doesn’t it?”
Idealization can be harder to spot. In grief for the dead, it is
usually clear—no ill can be spoken of the dead person and the
ambivalence of the lived relationship is denied. With regard to
climate change the idealization depends on what is experienced
as being lost. The natural world may be idealized—seen only as
magnificent, wild, and beautiful, while its dangers, threats, and
discomfort are minimized. Living in it, visiting it, exploring it,
(regardless of the carbon costs of doing so) can become a drug that
cannot be resisted.
A way of life that is under threat can similarly be idealized—
anything from suburban life through meat-eating to short-haul
flights—will be presented as an essential and non-negotiable
good, while its disadvantages are forgotten or repressed.
Numbing the pain through manic activity is another common
solution. It can take the form of intensifying destructive activity—rather
like Jeremy Clarkson, the UK TV motoring program
presenter, who seems to defy both climate change and death with
his style of driving. (For a flavor of the man see: http://www.jeremyclarkson.co.uk/jc-top-gear-quotes/)
Manic activity can also
be found among the climate-aware, however. One group member
ruefully admitted: “I’m so frantic organizing others I rarely
stop to think about what it means and I haven’t even got my own
house properly draught-stripped.” Recognizing the manic nature
of some climate activists’ work and acknowledging that it may
have something to do with grief could in the long run be helpful,
both in providing relief to them personally and in helping them
to focus their efforts more realistically.
RANDALL
124 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009
ble to acquire many consumer items through theft, most people
choose not to do so because they believe it to be wrong. Others
decide that a good salary and all it brings does not make it OK to
work in the arms trade or that the pleasures of a weekend with
friends do not justify breaking a promise to visit relatives.
If the desire and the loss in these choices are acknowledged
and mourned, they can be left behind and the person can move
on creatively with their life. If the loss is denied then the effect
is to breed resentment and bitterness, and to create a cruel, puritanical
superego that meets the world with severity and criticism.
Personal desire is denied, then projected into others who are
deemed to be at fault and who can be criticized or disapproved of.
This has been one of the pitfalls of the environmental movement
in the past but it might be avoided through better understanding
of the processes of mourning.
People’s positive valuations of the natural world can give them
strength in making choices that involve loss. Spiritual and religious
beliefs that validate connectedness or responsibility, empathy
for the rest of the nature, and opportunities for restorative experiences
in natural surroundings may all provide support to people
who make these difficult choices. In Carbon Conversations groups
it has often been the discussions on these themes that have provided
nourishment to group members. The work of Crompton and Kasser
(2009) confirms that appeals to intrinsic and self-transcendent values
can be valuable in promoting proenvironmental behaviors.
Framing chosen loss in terms of Winnicott’s “Capacity for
concern” (1963) may also be helpful. “Capacity for concern” is
Winnicott’s development of Melanie Klein’s idea that the achievement
of ambivalence involves guilt and the need for reparation
for damage done to the loved object. In Winnicott’s more positive
vision the capacity for concern is “ . . . at the back of all constructive
play and work.” (p. 73). When fierce, instinctual greed, and
destructiveness can be acknowledged and contained, then there is
the possibility that reparative concerns and constructive aims can
but the intensity of feeling lessens. They can be spoken of more
casually, with humor and with “warts and all.” The memories of
what is lost are no longer a constant accompaniment and commentary.
Anniversaries may eventually slip by unremarked and
with less pain. It becomes possible to distinguish between remembering
characterized by yearning, and remembering which maintains
a bond with the dead person that can offer strength and
support. As all this happens, new relationships become possible,
new activities hold meaning, and a changed sense of self and
identity develop.
We should not be prescriptive about the kinds of reinvestment
of emotional energy we might hope for as people adjust to the
losses of climate change and climate change mitigation. Some
will undoubtedly become activists. Some may take up community
projects or become leaders at work. But others will quietly
adjust their lives and continue as privately as before. Not everyone
mourns in the same way and we should expect to find diversity
in the outcomes as well as the process.
Degrees and Types of Loss
I have written so far as if all loss is the same. While it is true
that mourning for all losses tends to follow a similar pattern it
may be helpful to consider different kinds of loss and their implications
for work on climate change.
The archetype for loss is the absolute of death, the greater power
that robs us of whoever or whatever we love. Implacable, merciless,
relentless, it arbitrarily destroys relationships, hopes, and futures.
It is clear that there are strong aspects of absolute loss, both in
relation to temperature rise, biodiversity, destruction of habitat,
and in relation to mitigation, where individual lifestyle, prosperity,
identity, and relationship may all be under threat.
However, there are also chosen losses where people voluntarily
give up something desirable and transitional losses where a
loss may be balanced by a gain. Considering these kinds of loss
in relation to climate change may be helpful as may the idea of
anticipatory loss—the possibility that some of the work of mourning
can be done in preparation for a loss that is inevitable in the
future (Table 2).
Chosen loss and the capacity for concern
Choosing loss when there is an alternative is often seen as
foolish or masochistic: selflessness and self-sacrifice are not popular,
contemporary virtues. However, we all make moral choices
of this kind. People knowingly lose out because they prefer to hold
to values that matter to them. For example, although it is possiTable
2. Types of Loss
Absolute loss
Loss we have no control over: the archetype is death, but
other losses such as losing employment, or the extinction of
species may also have this quality
Chosen loss
Loss engaged with for reasons of ethics or concern, where a
conscious decision is made to relinquish something
Transitional loss
Loss arising from the movement from one experience to
another, typically from one life-stage to another
Anticipatory loss Facing loss through preparing for it and grieving in advance
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 125
ing through some of the emotions of grief may help the wife of a
dying man take over the tasks and roles of her husband and make
plans for her children’s future. Dealing with feelings of anger and
bitterness may help someone threatened with losing their job plan
for an alternative career.
Anticipatory grieving is rarely straightforward, however.
People can feel they are hastening the death of a loved one by preparing
for its aftermath. They may feel guilty making plans for a
future the dying person will not share. And if the anticipated loss
does not materialize or if there is reprieve after reprieve, then the
process of anticipatory mourning becomes exhausting and anger
and cynicism may replace grief.
Ideas about anticipatory loss may be useful in helping people
prepare for the inevitable changes that climate change will
bring, particularly those involved in personal carbon reduction.
For anticipatory grieving to be useful however, there must be a
certain belief that the loss is inevitable, a realistic time-frame in
which it is likely to happen and support in dealing with the anxieties
that arise. This requires firm political commitments about
practicalities and time-scales that most politicians seem unwilling
to make at present.
Integrative Solutions
How might we use an understanding of the processes of loss
and mourning in a practical way?
Truth, realism, creativity, and values
The first move must be to start telling the truth about loss. We
need to withdraw the projections of loss from the future and make
loss real in the present. We need both to stop catastrophizing the
future and to stop wrapping the present in cotton wool. By doing
so, we will diminish both extremes and make loss manageable,
both now and for our children and grandchildren.
The second must be to encourage realism about the nature of
the transitions we face and what they mean to different people.
We need to offer realistic scenarios that people can relate to, with
realistic time-scales, choices, and options. Within those scenarios
we need to discuss openly the losses that will be involved, the
effects on different sectors of society and the impacts on individuals
with different desires, aspirations, and identities. The
scenario-planning work of Forum for the Future (Goodman, 2008;
http://www.forumforthefuture.org) is to be applauded here but it
is aimed at an educated audience and there is a need for down-toearth,
accessible material with a similarly thoughtful emphasis.
emerge. However, Winnicott also makes it clear that constructive
and creative desires and experiences are necessary in order for
the experience of destructiveness to be properly acknowledged
and lived. In Winnicott’s view, although this integrative capacity
has its origins in infancy, it continues to be developed and
strengthened through the experiences of childhood, adulthood,
and old age. In relation to climate change, when the capacity for
concern can be awakened in people, then loss can be chosen as
part of a desirable, creative act that strengthens the individual
both personally and socially.
Transitional loss
Losses that are encountered as the consequence of moving from
one state to another may also provide a helpful model in exploring
the losses of climate change. Where the new state is broadly
seen as desirable, then the ambivalence at leaving behind and
losing the old one can be easily overcome. Moving from childhood
into adolescence, getting married, moving to a pleasanter
neighborhood might be examples of this. It is a loss to know that
one can never again hang upside down from a climbing frame
with that 10-year-old ease, but the sadness usually passes and the
excitements of adolescence compensate.
Sometimes, however, the new state feels less attractive than
the old one or the ambivalence is stronger. The transition from
middle age into old age is rarely embraced as enthusiastically as
that from adolescence into adulthood. Giving up smoking means
exchanging a known pleasure and support for the unknown benefit
of better health a long way in the future. Whether the transition
is achieved is often dependent on whether the elements that
are lost can be mourned and let go of.
It is a matter of debate whether the future that awaits us will
be preferable to the lives we live now. Some people look forward
hopefully to all kinds of social ills being healed in the transition
to a low-carbon future. Others focus on the threat to their aspirations
and identity. Whether the transitional losses that climate
change brings are more positive than negative may depend on the
values, perspectives, and social status of particular individuals.
Understanding the losses as well as the gains may be particularly
important in working with people whose identity is closely reinforced
by material objects and social status or whose aspirations
are likely to be disappointed because of the changes needed.
Anticipatory loss
There is some evidence that anticipating and preparing for loss
can be helpful psychologically (Parkes, 1975). For example, work-
RANDALL
126 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009
A culture of understanding
However, just as not everyone who is bereaved wishes to join a
group of other bereaved people, so not everyone will want to join
groups of these kinds. Creating a culture of understanding and
empathy among climate-change activists and organizers is also
important. If they themselves understand the processes of loss
and mourning they will be better placed to deal with the resistance
to change that they encounter. If they are working from a
psychological space that embodies their own mature “capacity for
concern” rather than an anxious and guilty drive for reparation,
they will be better placed to encourage the creativity of others.
And if their communications subtly and routinely convey these
understandings, then people will feel supported in their private
grief, rather than angered at it being ignored.
Setting up practical groups where loss can be negotiated in
a less overt way may also be helpful. My experience of energy
clubs (where neighbors join together to plan ecorenovations to
their homes), informal car-share schemes (where vehicle use is
dramatically curtailed through offering and accepting lifts), and
vegetable-growing groups is that there is frequently a culture of
pioneering spirit and optimism that makes less positive emotion
either unmentionable or results in those who experience it feeling
either that they cannot step up to the mark or that the enterprise
is not for them. Normalizing the sharing of difficulty, disappointment,
frustration, and loss in such groups might paradoxically
increase their staying power and appeal.
Role-models and stories
Providing role models and stories is well-known as a powerful
way of communicating and providing points of identification for
diverse audiences. It may be useful to look at the kinds of stories
that are communicated, however. There is frequently an assumption
that the stories must be positive and hopeful if they are to succeed
and that famous people are necessary to make the point. They tend
to present end-points, rather than processes—a film-star getting on
a bus or a rock-musician digging his vegetable patch, for example.
Concentrating on the process of change, including the experiences
of loss and grief, might be more effective, though this needs to be
done without descending into the confessional of day-time television.
Using a diverse range of role-models, that truly reflects the
experiences of the audiences worked with would also help.
Understanding identity and status
Questions of identity, status, loss, and change are also crucial.
We need to recognize how critical certain aspects of contemporary
Following from this, we need to emphasize creativity and
involvement in developing scenarios and solutions. We need to
reject one-size-fits-all scenarios. We need to listen to and involve
diverse communities who will have very different priorities and
responses.
Finally, we need to appeal to people’s values and their capacity
for concern. We need to normalize choosing loss and working
through the complex emotions that are involved in it. We need
to assert the truth that people are more than their material and
consuming selves and that by making difficult choices they will
enrich themselves and society.
What is needed to facilitate these moves?
Leadership
We certainly need better leadership from government, leadership
that is not afraid to tell the truth, nor afraid to lay out the difficult
choices. Ed Miliband, the current UK climate change minister, is no
Churchill. He appeals to environmentalists to “hold his feet nearer
the fire” and grasps weakly at the hope that a climate-changed
world will be a happier one. His appeals reflect the weakness of the
climate change agenda within government but he must also bear
personal responsibility for not stepping up to the challenge.
In the absence of this kind of leadership, we need to speak out
ourselves, to create the platforms where we can present options
that include losses as preferable and manageable, rather than as
unpleasant choices that could be rejected.
Support structures
Following on from this, we need to create support structures
that facilitate the process of mourning and provide containment
for the anxieties that will inevitably be revealed. We need strategies
that deal with the difficult issues of status and identity and
a culture of stories and role-models that offers meaningful examples
to identify with.
The Carbon Conversations groups mentioned earlier are one type
of support structure that may help as they deliberately set out to
address the emotional impact of the changes we need to make and
provide structures for sharing feelings and working through resistances
and difficulties in personal carbon reduction.1
Another useful
development is the “Work that Reconnects,” a form of group-work
pioneered by Joanna Macy and described in the book “Coming back
to life,” coauthored with Molly Brown (Macy & Brown, 1999). Based
on systems theory, spiritual teaching, and deep ecology, the groups
use experiential exercises to explore people’s feelings about the current
environmental crisis and help them move toward action.
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 127
one level this seems admirable. At another, the skills seem to be
idealized. The low productivity, industrial illnesses, and exploitation
of the weavers, blacksmiths, hedgers, and ditchers are forgotten.
The past is not mourned and moved on from, with emotional
energy being reinvested and new solutions being found. Instead,
it is set up in collective consciousness as preferable and ideal.
The current focus on the plight of the honeybee could fall prey to
a similar process. At the heart of the issue is the need, both for climate
change and for the bees, to grapple with monocultural farming
methods. There is a need to acknowledge the losses that these
farming methods have brought and to acknowledge the losses that
giving them up will bring. The risk is that instead of engaging in
this process, people will be encouraged to “save” the bees, through
engaging in back-garden bee-keeping, idealizing both their own
actions and turning the bee into a icon of what is lost.
The populist promise by London mayor, Boris Johnson, to
restore the traditional, red, open-backed Routemaster buses to the
streets of the capital can be seen as a cynical exploitation of the
same phenomenon. The Routemaster bus speaks of a time that is
believed to be safer, more secure, more optimistic, less troubled. It
can carry ideals of blitz spirit, cheerful Cockney characters, or the
confidence of 1960s youth and fashion. The complex reality of life
in postwar Britain, with its negative as well as its positive aspects
is hidden behind the idealized iconic symbol. The actual problem—
how to deliver efficient public transport and a safe, low-carbon,
flourishing city in 2010—is side-stepped. The real losses that might
be involved in this—from higher taxes to the end of individualized
transport—are not mentioned. Public anxiety is soothed at the
expense of facing loss and finding an appropriate solution.
Conclusion
Unresolved loss and mourning can thus have real, tangible
effects in holding back progress or in distracting us from difficult
political action. As I said at the start of this article, the splitting,
which projects all loss into the future making it catastrophic and
unmanageable, denies the losses that have to be faced now and
prevents us from dealing with them. As each task of mourning
in turn is rejected and its negative is embraced we become more
deeply mired, both personally and socially, in blind alleys, false
hopes, and magical solutions. I would like to end this article by
offering two examples from those who are dealing with loss, but
facing the need to grieve and grasping the possibilities that might
emerge from this. The first example is individual and concerns a
chosen loss. The second example is public and concerns absolute
loss.
consumption are to some people’s mental health and to adjust our
demands for change so that they take account of the fragility of
identity and its dependence on material goods. This is the subject
of a separate article (Randall, Unpublished Manuscript).
The Costs of Ignoring Loss
What is likely to happen if those working on climate change
do not incorporate an understanding of loss into their policies and
programs?
Rejection and avoidance
The most obvious answer is simply that they will encounter
continued rejection and avoidance of action by large numbers of
people. More subtly, however, we should also expect to find cultural
manifestations of Worden’s negatives of the tasks of mourning,
for example in the form of a growth in manic activity or in
idealization of what has been, or might be, lost.
Manic activity
I remarked in an earlier article (Randall, 2005) on the way shopping
can function as a protection against unwelcome or frightening
knowledge and as a comforting form of denial of climate
change. We can also observe manic qualities in this perpetual
pursuit of the new, and in the general busyness of contemporary
life. Both could be seen as speaking to a sense of unmourned loss,
symptoms of a defense, which maintains that there is no time to
think, no time to feel, no time to face what has happened.
Idealization
It is also common when loss is not grieved to encounter the
idealization of the lost object. Separated from the mix of positive
and negative emotions toward them, from the contradictions of
their character and from their context, the dead person is set up
in the mind of the mourner as perfection personified. They can
never be criticized, never remembered without yearning, adulation,
or nostalgia.
We encounter a similar phenomenon in the way certain objects,
skills, or customs can be elevated as iconic symbols of a past that
is idealized and longed for.
False solutions
Pursuing and recovering these iconic symbols become part of
a process of false solutions that can sidetrack social movements
from engagement with difficult choices. Take for example the current,
popular focus on preserving forgotten or vanishing skills. At
RANDALL
128 ECOPSYCHOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2009
of the need for grief. One of the ways mankind has always dealt
with its losses is through the creation of rituals and memorials.
They can help us value what is gone, provide form and structure
for painful feeling, help us reassert our determination to rescue
something from grief, and work toward the future. By publicly
stating, not what we might lose but what we have already lost, the
Memo project brings us face to face with reality. Tangible, public
statements of this kind have the potential to provide the containment
that will allow people to engage properly with their grief
and move on.
Loss is painful. We need to detach ourselves piece by piece
from what is past and gone, or from that which is no longer sustainable.
We need to grieve, with the full range of emotion which
that implies. Only then will we become able to remake our futures
using all of our creativity, reason, feeling, and strength.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Note
1. Materials for these groups are available through the Carbon
Conversations Web site www.carbonconversations.org.
REFERENCES
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss (Vol. 2). London: Penguin.
Brooke, S. (2009). MEMO: the project to commemorate the world’s extinct species.
Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://memoproject.org
Chambers, N., Simmons, C., & Wackernagel, M. (2000). Sharing nature’s interest:
ecological footprints as indicator of sustainability. London: Earthscan.
Crompton, T. (2008). Weathercocks and signposts. London: World Wildlife Fund.
Crompton, T., & Kasser, T. (2009). Meeting environmental challenges: The role of
human identity. London: World Wildlife Fund.
Defra. (2008). A framework for pro-environmental behaviours. London: Author.
Freud, S. (1917). Mourning and melancholia (Standard ed., Vol. XIV). London:
Hogarth Press.
Goodman, J. (2008). Climate futures. Forum for the future: action for a sustainable
world. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://www.forumforthefuture.
org/projects/climate-futures.
Holmes, J. (1993). John Bowlby and attachment theory. London: Routledge.
Hopkins, R. (2008). The transition handbook. Totnes, UK: Green Books.
James, O. (2007). Affluenza. London: Vermilion.
King, S., Dyball, M., Webster, T., Sharpe, A., Worley, A., & DeWitt, J. (2009). Exploring
public attitudes to climate change and travel choices: deliberative research.
Final report for Department of Transport. London: People, Science and Policy.
Klein, M. (1940/1975). Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states. In
M. Klein (Ed.), Love, guilt and reparation. London: Hogarth Press; pp. 344–369.
Kubler-Ross, E. (1970). On death and dying. London: Tavistock.
Layard, R. (2006). Happiness: lessons from a new science. London: Penguin.
A young man spoke in one of my Carbon Conversations groups
about his decision not to fly again. He described an emotional
journey that started with the wonder of his first experience in an
aeroplane, the extraordinary sensation of being above the world,
among the clouds or staring down at the patterned fields, forests,
rivers, and towns below. It was something he would never forget,
but would not repeat, a special experience and a treasured
one, a story to remember and perhaps tell to his grandchildren.
He described the hardship of the cheapest alternative transport
between the United Kingdom and his partner’s family in Eastern
Europe—24 hr of uncomfortable coach travel. He spoke of the turmoil
involved in their decision to settle in Eastern Europe; how
hard it was for both of them to decide where to make their lives,
facing lengthy separations from her family or from his and the
saying of many goodbyes, of which this was one. The world that
had brought them together through cheap air flights was no
longer sustainable. Family visits would be less frequent and would
be made by coach, not air. The pain and grief of this were palpable
but his emergence from it was also clear. He and his partner were
returning, strengthened by each other and by the decision, to start
a new life in Eastern Europe, developing an ecological project that
both were committed to. They left behind them possibilities that
many of their contemporaries would have thought impossible to
relinquish. There was a complexity of feeling held in the group—
sadness, anger, longing, and regret, but also hopefulness, and,
among the other people present, a deep sense of respect for the
difficult and painful decision of the young couple and a renewed
realization of what was possible on the other side of grief.
My second example is from a public art project. The educational
charity MEMO (Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory)
is building a memorial on the Dorset coast, made from local
Portland stone, to commemorate plants and animals known to
have gone extinct in modern times. They describe it on their Web
site (Brooke, 2009; http://memoproject.org):
The memorial will be a stone monument bearing the images
of all the species of plants and animals known to have gone
extinct in modern times. It will incorporate a bell to be tolled
for all extinct species, including the great many “unknown”
species which it is believed perish each year unseen by scientists.
The bell will be tolled on the International Day of
Biodiversity on 22nd May each year.
The project has met with a mixed reception. Some find the
public acknowledgment of our loss hard to take and brand it as
an acceptance of defeat. Others see it for what it is—a recognition
LOSS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
© MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. • VOL. 1 NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2009 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 129
Winnicott, D. W. (1963). The Development of the capacity for concern. In D. W. Winnicott
(Ed.), The maturational process and the facilitating environment. London:
Karnac; pp. 73–82.
Worden, W. (1983). Grief counselling and grief therapy. London: Tavistock.
Address correspondence to:
Rosemary Randall
Director
Cambridge Carbon Footprint
Post: 113 Gwydir Street
Cambridge, CB1 2LG
United Kingdom
E-mail: rorandall@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org
Received: August 26, 2009
Accepted: September 30, 2009
Lertzman, R. (2008, June 19). The myth of apathy. Ecologist. Retreived October 8,
2009, from http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commenta-
tors/other_comments/269433/the_myth_of_apathy.html
Macy, J., & Brown, M. (1999). Coming back to Life: Practices to reconnect our Lives,
our world. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
The Manchester Report. 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://www.guard-
ian.co.uk/environment/manchester-report
Marshall, G. (2007). Carbon de-tox. London: Gaia Books.
Parkes, C. M. (1975). Bereavement: studies of grief in adult life. London: Penguin.
Randall, R. (2005). A New climate for psychotherapy? Psychotherapy and Politics
International, 3(3), 165–179.
Randall, R. (2009). Carbon Conversations: six meetings about climate change and
carbon reduction. Cambridge: Cambridge Carbon Footprint.
Randall, R. (Unpublished Manuscript). Fragile worlds: identity and environment in
a time of crisis.
Running, S. W. (2007). The 5 stages of climate grief. Numerical Terradynamic
Simulation Group (NTSG), College of Forestry & Conservation, University
of Montana. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from http://www.ntsg.umt.edu/
files/5StagesClimateGrief.htm
Stern, N. (2007). The Economics of climate change: The Stern Review. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
This article has been cited by:
1. Branden B. Johnson. 2011. Climate Change Communication: A Provocative Inquiry into Motives, Meanings, and Means.
Risk Analysis no-no. [CrossRef]
2. Jan Haaken. 2010. Psychoanalysis, culture, society and our biotic relations: Introducing an ongoing theme on environment
and sustainability. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 15:2, 113-116. [CrossRef]