Now are the Warnings Registering?
Lise Van Susteren, MD
01/13/25
A relative called late in the evening on Tuesday Jan 7, the day the fires exploded in LA. “Did you see the news” - she asked with alarm - “LA is on fire.” Of course I had seen the news. Who could have missed it? And then I exploded with mock surprise: “NO….you’re kidding! Fires, floods, storms? How could that happen?” Then I began the rant about the 20 years I’ve spent warning about the consequences of global warming – shutting down dinner parties, alienating family members, being the butt of jokes.
In 2009 I held what is thought to be the first conference on “The Psychological Effects of Global Warming”.
It concluded that the public and professional organizations were in denial, not only about the dangers we faced from global warming but the horrific emotional toll extreme weather events would have on us. At the time I lamented in the preface of the published proceedings (National Wildlife Federation, March 2012) that our warnings were not registering with people – a dangerous condition we hoped to correct with our work. I lamented that my mental-health colleagues at the America Psychiatric Association said “no one was interested,” when I repeatedly asked them to attend. A colleague asked, flatly, “What does climate have to do with psychiatry”?
As a forensic psychiatrist and an expert on the physical and mental health effects of climate change I have been issuing warnings in written legal reports, in court and in depositions, in hundreds of presentations, and as a former profiler of world leaders at the CIA been tasked with profiling the likely psychological damages to young people. I have coauthored surveys on climate distress in more than 10,000 young people in 10 countries (The Lancet, Planetary Health; December 2021) and in 16,000 youth between the ages of 16 -25 here in the US. (The Lancet, Planetary Health; November 2024).
Our children are not OK. Experience and overwhelming statistics show the degree of damage to young people. Many are devastated by their worries, even reporting they feel doomed. (The WSJ called their concerns “climate hypochondriasis”; July 30, 2023) Their daily lives, they say, are affected by their fears. Some don't envision continuing their education – what would be the point when the world, they fear, will end. Growing numbers of young people acknowledge they will choose not to have children – because of the added burden to the planet of bringing another person into the world, and because they feel it would be immoral to expose a child to the chaos the future, they believe, is assured. An overwhelming majority of those surveyed lay the blame fully at the feet of government.
While “Climate Cassandras” have been warning of the impending catastrophes for decades, could LA - so god awfully devastating, finally be a turning point? For those who have downplayed, dismissed, or distanced themselves from the warnings of the apocalyptic impacts of climate change, or simply dragged their feet on taking action…
Are the warnings registering now?
LA is just the beginning, The back-to-back hurricanes last fall are just the beginning. The huge snow and ice storms that have shut large swaths of the US down for several days these last weeks are just the beginning. This is the climate “Little League”. Twenty - twenty - four was the hottest year on record – and possibly the hottest in 100,000 years. Everywhere signs of breakdown are evident.
Wildlife populations are down by 73% since 1970 (World Wildlife Fund, Oct 2024) extinction rates are up a 1000 times the base rate. Sea level rise is causing daily flooding along coastlines-- where tens of million in the US alone are living. Mother Nature, if you will forgive the metaphor, is just warming up. Once a certain level of warming is in the air, temperatures will force irreversible consequences. We will be stuck. And by “we” it is mostly young people who will be faced with these horrifying and in sometimes unsurvivable consequences. And they will know that we could have taken action in time, but chose not to.
The well off frequently rail at the entitlements of those on the lower end of the socio-economic pole – but the entitlement that is the most unjust is living a high carbon lifestyle.
We are leaving opportunities to transition to renewable energy on the table. We are supporting banks and other institutions which lend money to the fossil fuel industry that is destroying us despite knowing for decades – as shown in leaked corporate documents - that carbon emissions threaten our survival. Some people vote for politicians who will shirk their primary duty to protect the public by failing to adopt policies to correct climate change.
What will the future be like for young people? In the midst of feelings of anger and despair, of fears and the sense of betrayal and abandonment, ….Where will they get the courage, the belief in themselves, the dedication to truth and compassion that will enable them to help each other when they most need it?
In all states therapists are required by law to report child abuse. In some states, anyone with a supervisory role with children must report child abuse. In some instances such adult individuals are required to report mere suspicion of child abuse or potential abuse. Child welfare groups define child abuse as physical, sexual and emotional abuse, but also as a failure to provide an environment in which a child can thrive.
Given that government is the primary driver of our continued use of fossil fuels, and that our children are right now suffering mightily with trauma from extreme weather events, and will be consigned to a future of even worse conditions, is it really far-fetched to refer to the government’s role as a form of state sponsored child abuse?
Maybe it’s time to call inaction on climate what it is – a form of child abuse.
L.A. is becoming an ash heap. What more evidence do we need?
Lise Van Susteren, MD
01/13/25
A relative called late in the evening on Tuesday Jan 7, the day the fires exploded in LA. “Did you see the news” - she asked with alarm - “LA is on fire.” Of course I had seen the news. Who could have missed it? And then I exploded with mock surprise: “NO….you’re kidding! Fires, floods, storms? How could that happen?” Then I began the rant about the 20 years I’ve spent warning about the consequences of global warming – shutting down dinner parties, alienating family members, being the butt of jokes.
In 2009 I held what is thought to be the first conference on “The Psychological Effects of Global Warming”.
It concluded that the public and professional organizations were in denial, not only about the dangers we faced from global warming but the horrific emotional toll extreme weather events would have on us. At the time I lamented in the preface of the published proceedings (National Wildlife Federation, March 2012) that our warnings were not registering with people – a dangerous condition we hoped to correct with our work. I lamented that my mental-health colleagues at the America Psychiatric Association said “no one was interested,” when I repeatedly asked them to attend. A colleague asked, flatly, “What does climate have to do with psychiatry”?
As a forensic psychiatrist and an expert on the physical and mental health effects of climate change I have been issuing warnings in written legal reports, in court and in depositions, in hundreds of presentations, and as a former profiler of world leaders at the CIA been tasked with profiling the likely psychological damages to young people. I have coauthored surveys on climate distress in more than 10,000 young people in 10 countries (The Lancet, Planetary Health; December 2021) and in 16,000 youth between the ages of 16 -25 here in the US. (The Lancet, Planetary Health; November 2024).
Our children are not OK. Experience and overwhelming statistics show the degree of damage to young people. Many are devastated by their worries, even reporting they feel doomed. (The WSJ called their concerns “climate hypochondriasis”; July 30, 2023) Their daily lives, they say, are affected by their fears. Some don't envision continuing their education – what would be the point when the world, they fear, will end. Growing numbers of young people acknowledge they will choose not to have children – because of the added burden to the planet of bringing another person into the world, and because they feel it would be immoral to expose a child to the chaos the future, they believe, is assured. An overwhelming majority of those surveyed lay the blame fully at the feet of government.
While “Climate Cassandras” have been warning of the impending catastrophes for decades, could LA - so god awfully devastating, finally be a turning point? For those who have downplayed, dismissed, or distanced themselves from the warnings of the apocalyptic impacts of climate change, or simply dragged their feet on taking action…
Are the warnings registering now?
LA is just the beginning, The back-to-back hurricanes last fall are just the beginning. The huge snow and ice storms that have shut large swaths of the US down for several days these last weeks are just the beginning. This is the climate “Little League”. Twenty - twenty - four was the hottest year on record – and possibly the hottest in 100,000 years. Everywhere signs of breakdown are evident.
Wildlife populations are down by 73% since 1970 (World Wildlife Fund, Oct 2024) extinction rates are up a 1000 times the base rate. Sea level rise is causing daily flooding along coastlines-- where tens of million in the US alone are living. Mother Nature, if you will forgive the metaphor, is just warming up. Once a certain level of warming is in the air, temperatures will force irreversible consequences. We will be stuck. And by “we” it is mostly young people who will be faced with these horrifying and in sometimes unsurvivable consequences. And they will know that we could have taken action in time, but chose not to.
The well off frequently rail at the entitlements of those on the lower end of the socio-economic pole – but the entitlement that is the most unjust is living a high carbon lifestyle.
We are leaving opportunities to transition to renewable energy on the table. We are supporting banks and other institutions which lend money to the fossil fuel industry that is destroying us despite knowing for decades – as shown in leaked corporate documents - that carbon emissions threaten our survival. Some people vote for politicians who will shirk their primary duty to protect the public by failing to adopt policies to correct climate change.
What will the future be like for young people? In the midst of feelings of anger and despair, of fears and the sense of betrayal and abandonment, ….Where will they get the courage, the belief in themselves, the dedication to truth and compassion that will enable them to help each other when they most need it?
In all states therapists are required by law to report child abuse. In some states, anyone with a supervisory role with children must report child abuse. In some instances such adult individuals are required to report mere suspicion of child abuse or potential abuse. Child welfare groups define child abuse as physical, sexual and emotional abuse, but also as a failure to provide an environment in which a child can thrive.
Given that government is the primary driver of our continued use of fossil fuels, and that our children are right now suffering mightily with trauma from extreme weather events, and will be consigned to a future of even worse conditions, is it really far-fetched to refer to the government’s role as a form of state sponsored child abuse?
Maybe it’s time to call inaction on climate what it is – a form of child abuse.
L.A. is becoming an ash heap. What more evidence do we need?