Climate cafés open worldwide to help 'ease the anxiety' of global 'crisis'
"Climate cafes" have been popping up worldwide over the past few years to help people deal with their global warming anxiety, according to a recent New York Times report. The article "Can Climate Cafes Help Ease the Anxiety of Planetary Crisis?" documented a new phenomenon of groups meeting, whether publicly or privately, to "discuss their grief, fears, anxiety and other emotions about the climate crisis." One organization, Climate Psychology Alliance North America, claimed to the NYT that it has trained 350 people to run climate cafes in the U.S. and Canada with 300 people on the "climate-aware therapist directory." "The alliance examines how mental health is affected by ecosystems extreme weather and disasters; tainted air and water and how that intersects with other forces, like racism and income inequality. Psychologists say that such groups help people face the unsettling realities of the climate crisis," NYT reporters Lola Fadulu and Emily Schmall wrote. PBS INTERVIEWS CLIMATE PSYCHOLOGY THERAPIST ABOUT HANDLING ANXIETY FROM CLIMATE CHANGE The groups include the simply named Climate Cafe in New York City, which was founded in Nov. 2022 as a private group and has since grown into a wider activist organization involving protests and festivals. "We get it no one likes thinking about global warming. But we all share a concern about it. At Climate Cafe, we are here to make it simple for you to take action. Meet your neighbors, enjoy some coffee, and learn exactly how you can take part in the fight for our future and our coffee!" Climate Cafes website reads. It added, "We help you find your role in the largest movement in human history and offer opportunities to make friends at our member events. By uniting as Climate Citizens, we will bring about the kind of transformation that our economy and society needs to stop the climate crisis in its tracks." The site also highlighted its partnership with other groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Planet Over Profit, Fridays for Future and Sunrise Movement. Extinction Rebellion has frequently appeared in headlines based on its extreme activism blocking busy streets and interrupting events like a U.S. Open match. Another group known as The Resilient Activist (TRA) was founded by 71-year-old Sami Aaron after she said her son, a Berkeley student, committed suicide because of hopelessness over climate change. CLIMATE ACTIVISTS INTERRUPT OPERA PERFORMANCE, ANGERING AUDIENCE: 'SHUT UP!' "My older son, Kevin, was one of those activists who was broken by the emotional burden he carried, believing that his personal well-being was of little importance when weighed against the needs of the world. He died by suicide in 2003. He wrote, Letting go of the passion to work on substantive structural change in favor of personal happiness is not a viable option. TRA was founded to help activists like him recognize the critical value of self-care and to provide the community, resources, and insight to support long-term resilience in light of the critical work they do," Aaron wrote on her website. The international Force of Nature organization also boasted over 190 climate cafes across 49 countries. Its website reads, "Now, more than ever, we need spaces to host discussions about the climate crisis, how it affects us and the actions we need to take to tackle it. Individual actions alone wont solve the climate crisis, but by coming together as a community, we can find comfort in our shared experiences, learn from different perspectives and model the world we wish to create."