Summary
Natural disasters and wellbeing are linked. Natural disasters affect all of us, even when the disaster is not in our neighbourhood. Natural disasters can be faced with collaboration and compassion. We are all human beings. We can find solutions to our challenges as a community. We can work together for the wellbeing of the world.
Natural Disasters and Mental Wellbeing
Here is the Northeastern United States we are experiencing a drought. This is not a joke. There are drought conditions in parts of the Northeastern United States. Let’s explore the intersection of natural disasters and mental wellbeing.
Disasters Affect Us All
According to the National Weather Services, some areas of the Northeastern United States are under a Red Flag Warning. Translation: critical fire weather conditions exist related to low humidity, dry fuels, and high winds.
Remember Québec in 2023. The forest fires created smoke and debris that were carried long distances, into the Southern United States and into Western Canada. In a land of snow, forest fires blossomed and affected air quality leading to health issues – and caused heartbreak as a nation faced the reality of climate change.
Today, Christmas tree farmers in Massachusetts stand by, helpless, as their crops are dying due to a lack of water.
Massachusetts Christmas tree farms seeing more trees die this year due to drought, CBS Boston, November 13, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ezgvyy_puc
It’s not just the southern United States or California or Western Canadian provinces which have been affected by drought. Northern Africa, Europe, South America, …
And, then there are floods. Southeast Asia 2024, while China has experienced both floods and drought, as have parts of the USA and Canada.
And, the list of natural disasters goes on and on and on and on…
Beyond the Natural Disasters
The natural disasters themselves affect lives of millions of people. They also impact our infrastructures. And, some of that infrastructure comprises our food chains.
Farmers cannot produce crops without water. Each of us needs food to eat. No crops, no food.
Whoa. In North America, no food? In Europe, no food? In China, no food?
In certain parts of each of these regions, there can be no food and destruction of natural resources and lack of water for bathing, laundry, sewage systems. Buildings, streets, schools, hospitals, leisure activities, livelihoods, all will be affected.
Coping with the immediate events of a natural disaster can be challenging. Dealing with the aftermaths can be even moreso.
What the World Needs Now
What the world needs now is cooperation not polarization, collaboration not isolationism, empathy not finger pointing, authenticity not power plays.
The research tells us that we can do this, as a species. Human beings tend to come together when faced with common struggles. We do the right thing, on the whole. We are compassionate towards each other and we help each other. We see our similarities as human beings and we appreciate how our differences do not separate us.
Take a moment to read the article by Jamal Zaki entitled Catastrophe Compassion: Understanding and Extending Prosociality Under Crisis, published in May of 2020:
Wellbeing Despite Natural Disasters
By extending our compassion muscle, we augment our resilience and the resilience of others in the face of natural disasters. Thus, we promote wellbeing.
How easy it that?
Our world depends on our wellbeing for its wellbeing. If we can observe everyone with the same lens we employ to see ourselves, there is no “US” and “THEM”. I am you and you are me. Then, there is no boundary between our shared humanity.
My climate disaster in the Northeastern United States is your climate disaster, even as you stand on a street in Honduras or a field in Southeast China.
Your natural disaster in Anywhere, World, is my natural disaster.
Let’s approach the challenges with compassion. Maybe, just maybe, through cooperation and understanding, we will develop solutions rather than creating more problems.
Wellbeing and Natural Disasters: Acceptance and Change
Have you ever heard of the dialectic of acceptance and change?
Of course, you have.
And, what if we espoused the dialectic from a community perspective, not an individualistic perspective? What can we, as a community, do to ensure our survival and perhaps the thriving of our community? What must WE accept and what can WE change?
Doesn’t it feel better to work together rather than blame someone else for the problems and challenges we face?
The banner of xenophobia and polarization surfacing on North American shores has no place in our world. It is not good for my wellbeing and it is certainly not good for the wellbeing of our world.
Berenike comes to mind. As it should for all of us.
James Taylor performing ‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught’ from South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvpyKWvdmWI
We are Berenike.
Wellbeing and Natural Wonders
An appropriate closing for this post is a discussion on one of our universe’s natural wonders, meteorite showers. But, I am leaving that honour to a brilliant man whose intelligence is stellar.
Take a listen to the StarTalk podcast of August 8, 2024, in which Neil deGrasse Tyson explains meteors and meteorites.
Take-away for Wellbeing
Maybe you and I can find a moment to share, watching a meteorite show, for free, thanks to our universe.
Because we are all human.
Berenike comes to mind…
Selected References:
Aljazeera (19 Jun 2024). Four people killed, at least a dozen missing as extreme weather hits China. Aljazeera.com. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/6/19/four-people-killed-over-a-dozen-missing-as-extreme-weather-hits-china
European Commission (31 July 2024). Persistent droughts: critical water shortages and crops threatened. EU Science Hub. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/persistent-droughts-critical-water-shortages-and-crops-threatened-2024-07-31_en
Government of Canada/Gouvernement du Canada. (August 19, 2024). Canada’s record-breaking wildfires in 2023: A fiery wake-up call. Natural Resources Canada. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://natural-resources.canada.ca/simply-science/canadas-record-breaking-wildfires-2023-fiery-wake-call/25303
Marchant, J. (July/August 2024). A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals the Hidden Connections between Distant Civilizations. Accessed online on November 8, 2024, at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hidden-ancient-egyptian-port-reveals-180984485/
NASA. (September 21, 2024). Intense widespread drought grips South America. NASA Earth Observatory. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153447/intense-widespread-drought-grips-south-america
UNICEF. (18 September 2024). Nearly 6 million children affected as floods and landslides devastate Southeast Asia in the wake of Typhoon Yagi.
Zaki, J. (May 14, 2020). Catastrophe Compassion: Understanding and Extending Prosociality Under Crisis. Trends Cogn. Sci, 24(8): 587-589. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7221394/#:~:text=Extending%20Catastrophe%20Compassion&text=Floods%2C%20bombings%2C%20and%20earthquakes%20are,boundaries%20that%20typically%20separate%20people.
If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, please call 9-1-1 or 9-8-8 OR go to your nearest emergency room.
Disclaimer: The content of this post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your mental health professional team.
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