Extreme weather is triggering climate despair

I remember reading that climate journalists, having spent so much time reporting on the dire state of our environment and the lack of action to reduce our emissions, often have to seek counseling to deal with the despair they feel given how knowledgeable they are about the consequences.

A four-degree warmer world is a scary thought.

At the time, I thought it made sense for them to be so deeply affected by their work, but I didn’t think it would be a phenomenon that would affect many beyond the most informed — climate change was undoubtedly concerning, but the idea of being so psychologically impacted that you had to seek counseling seemed… extreme.

Until I started to experience climate despair myself.

Read the Medium story by Paris Marx - “Extreme weather is triggering climate despair.”

Fly-Fishing on Montana's Big Hole River, Signs of Climate Change Are All Around

Anyone who takes fly-fishing seriously behaves like a scientist. These anglers are biologists, knowledgeable in what's eating what, when and how. They are hydrologists, studying riffles and stream flow. They are naturalists, observing clouds and sunlight and the circulation of air as their rods flick back and forth across the big sky. They are, in a sense, climate scientists. And some, but not all, are deeply concerned about the effects of a warming climate on the cold-water species that inhabit blue-ribbon trout streams.

Nature is a powerful economic driver here, and
 livelihoods depend on cold water and healthy
 fish. People know it’s warming, but few will
say that's climate change

But to the extent that they act as climate scientists, partisan politics plays a role in many anglers' understanding of climate change. Here in Montana, with pristine rivers that are home to some of the best fly-fishing in the country, a majority of votes went for President Trump—and climate change is considered by many of them to be a natural phenomenon beyond human control. Nonetheless, climate change is having a profound influence on fly-fishing, from the timing of insect hatches to the long-term survival of the fish that give this sport its meaning.

Read the story by Meera Subramanian  from Inside Climate News - “Fly-Fishing on Montana's Big Hole River, Signs of Climate Change Are All Around.”