Eco-Anxiety and Ecomilli

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the perfect opportunity to talk about the eco-anxiety that compels us to learn, serve and protect the climate. The American Psychological Association describes climate or eco-anxiety as a “chronic fear of environmental doom.” This dread may range from mild stress to clinical level functional impairment with symptoms that include feeling unsafe, disconnected, numb, restless, and helpless. Emotionally overwhelmed, we may respond with despairing disengagement or sanctimonious anger. Both warranted.

This is where I come in, a grief counselor and philosopher trained in confronting loss and futility, your guide to creative resilience and defiant joy. Therapeutically we begin to confront any anxiety by accepting the fear without diminishing the threat. Second, we engage the acute feelings in small measures to avoid a debilitating or aggressive trauma response. Finally, we engage social and community support to counter feelings of isolation and helplessness. Transformative self-care includes transforming one’s relationship with their nested environments that range from clothing, home, neighborhood, region, world, solar system to the universe of stars.

Ecomilli's mission to empower with information, products and community supports a similar therapeutic triad: brave self-awareness, strength in diverse and shared narratives, and empowering acts of creative resilience. It does not claim to offer the ‘right’ or ‘only’ way to engage the climate crisis. Rather Ecomilli opens a space for conversations and actions about things we make, buy, and share as climate-aware beings. Stories and interviews on our inspiration page dare to shelter flashes of resilience despite the threat of human extinction. May the sparks of defiance in each of us together light a way into a millennium of climate care.

As we continue to build this community of climate-care we ask you to join us by,

• Allowing yourself to consistently bear witness to climate news. Avoid ‘info-whelm’ by reading responsibly, attuned to your self-care.
• Sharing your stories of climate care. Click the link below to share your stories of difficult choices, resourceful creativity, and engaged commitment to life on earth. Advocate for your spheres of influence and your communities of creative resilience.
• Investing in sustainable products, crafters, and communities with attention to how their lifecycle relates to yours.
• Celebrating each news, product, or initiative of defiant creative resilience however small.

This is how together we transform the 20th century culture of modern convenience to a new millennium culture of climate care. This is how we transform a story of futility and grief to a story of meaning and purpose. This is how we embrace life to evolve together and forward. This is how we transform eco-grief to eco-gratitude.

Thank you for being here with us, reading and sharing Your Stories of Care.

Sincerely,

Lisa Banu

Director of Inspiration - Ecomilli