Flourish Health & Wellbeing Magazine - Mar 24 - Flipbook - Page 52
Climate grief relates to changes that
have already happened, the changes
that are currently happening, and the
changes that will occur in the future.
“Anticipatory loss”
“Disenfranchised grief”
occurs when people prepare for and grieve
in advance of the loss. Much of climate
grief relates to the future, which makes it
extremely challenging.
occurs when other people and social
norms do not allow us to grieve socially
due to issues that are challenging or
forbidden to talk about. Much of climate
grief is disenfranchised. We commonly
feel like is not acceptable to grieve the
loss of our climate because of poli琀椀cal
disputes, ignorance, and denial. This is
one of the most di昀케cult aspects of
climate grief; we feel alone, and we
have no one to share it with.
“Ambiguous grief”
occurs when we are unable to grasp the
full extent of what is lost. Much of climate
grief is ambiguous. We know something
is par琀椀ally lost, but we have no full
knowledge of the scale and totality of
the loss. It’s di昀케cult to know what to
do or how to grieve.
Like with all grief, we can expect
to feel a messy array of emotions
from positive to painful and
everything in between.
Understanding our experience can
help to normalise and validate the
legitimacy of our grief.