Lorax Elegy

Oil on canvas diptych / 24″ x 12″

Planet grief is a constant companion these days. People coming to their therapists with “climate distress,” “climate grief,” “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety” is becoming more and more prevalent in psychiatric and psychological communities.

There are times when the devastating feelings are so large that I seem to be emotionally reduced to peering out of my body at the world like a frightened child peeking out from under a pile of blankets. Thus, the reason for deliberately referring to Dr. Seuss’s book, The Lorax in this painting. The Lorax was first published in 1971, just as the environmental movement began to take hold.

I would have been between the ages of 6-9 when I first read The Lorax. It affected me deeply and remember crying over the loss of all the trees and feeling helpless to stop the “Once-ler” big people from causing all the environmental destruction.

Environmental degradation has not stopped, and the effects of human caused climate change has become the new normal. As the planet continues to heat up, more and more extreme weather events and fires are laying waste to whole communities and ecosystems.

I know I am far from alone in the anxiety felt from watching our planet, people and other species suffer and die. At this point, where is the hope to be found? As much as the feelings of helplessness are a real and understandable response to such a big problem, the truth is, we are not helpless. We have all that we need to solve our environmental issues equitably and sustainably. Hope is a verb. It takes getting actively involved in supporting and helping save our planet to feel it.