with Professor Stephan Lewandowsky
University of Bristol, Bristol

Climate change is real.

Now.

Climate change is happening.

Now.

It may even be happening near you.

Someone you know may already have experienced it.

It could be anyone. A lecturer in your faculty. A lecturer in another faculty. That loner who sits in the back row at your Greenpeace chapter meetings. An associate lecturer.

Literally anyone.

Talk to them. More importantly, listen to them, and be a shoulder to cry on.

They will seem irrational, they will be in denial and they will take their anger out on you. Try not to take it personally! These are just normal stages in the process of healing from climate trauma.

Above all, resist the natural desire to suggest cheap, easy solutions. There are none, and it can be very offensive to propose them.

And for god’s sake, never tell a sufferer to “man up” and “try to adapt.”

Just be there. That’s what climate-change survivors need.

AUTHOR DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Stevan ‘Stephe’ Lewandowsky is the Chair in Theoretical Conspiracism at the University of Bristol, UK.

He does not work; own equity in any institution whose reputation has benefited from the publication of this article; or consult for.

As a psychologist, he has no direct experience with mental health.

This article is not a substitute for a mental illness support community like ThisWayUp, MoodGym or ShapingTomorrowsWorld.