Sometimes, saving the planet can create anxiety
Experts offer tips for safeguarding mental health while still doing your part
A few years ago, Corona native Kristy Drutman — founder of the popular Browngirl Green platform and podcast — decided to take on the environment-minded challenge known as “Plastic Free July.”
The idea is to avoid single-use plastics for a month, then document that process to share strategies and inspire others to swap plastics for more sustainable options.
“I failed after five days,” Drutman said.
That's how long it took her to figure out that with her schedule and budget, it just wasn't possible to ditch all food and other products packaged with plastic. If Drutman, who's 28, couldn't overcome these challenges, she wondered, how could people with more limited incomes and children and other challenges ever hope to?
Drutman's experience is common for many people who have tried to adopt more eco-friendly practices or throw their support behind policies or projects billed as sustainable.
As conditions around the globe increasingly highlight the need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and polluting materials such as plastics, most people are trying to do their part. But no solution is perfect, and it's inevitable that information will emerge about flaws or unintended consequences with these green solutions.
You can find examples of this everywhere. Wind turbines create clean energy, but can kill birds in the process. Electric vehicles spew less carbon, but mining for materials used in their batteries is ruining some ecosystems. Conserving too much water is bankrupting water agencies. Replacing an oil field with a community park can contribute to gentrification.
Those who stand to benefit economically or ideologically from the old way of doing things love to spread the word about such flaws. Their campaigns often exaggerate the risks of ecofriendly choices while ignoring the risks we face from the status quo. Some even suggest flaws with green moves are insurmountable, or outweigh the good they can bring, often despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
But reports on shortcom