Crossing the Threshold

Hiding from the environmental challenges that face us today is not easy. Spend some time on the internet, open a newspaper, switch on the television - the stories of what we will have to face in the coming years are sitting in there waiting for you. Coupled with this is the uncertain outcome of these challenges. It would almost be better to hear what was definitely in store for us, even if that news was not what we want to hear - at least then we would know, but right now we know nothing for certain.  Hearing this news constantly is not easy. We can find ourselves having to keep down a job, have bills to pay, family to look after...and meanwhile no one appears to be talking about the challenges ahead. We hesitate to say anything about our fears for the future in case everyone thinks that we have lost it. We don’t want to appear like the odd one in the pack who everyone talks about when we have left the room.

I wonder, though, how many other people there are out in the room who feel the same way as us? If there are others out there, why are they quiet? Do they have the same concerns about how they are perceived as us? Or would they rather just look the other way and hope that all this doomsaying would just go away?

For some though, a time comes when they can no longer pretend, even if they want to. It is as though their perception of the world has changed. They can no longer look back on the world with the same eyes as they used to. Talking to a person who doesn’t accept the environmental problems ahead can be like talking to someone who is looking out on a different world to you. The experience can be quite stark and real.

Sarah Anne Edwards and Linda Buzzel, both therapists who work within the environmental arena, have identified 6 stages that people go through as they “Wake Up” to the challenges that lie ahead. These stages are:

In an article published in HopeDance they delineate these 6 stages, explaining what leads people to move into each stage. They call this process “The Waking Up Syndrome” and the article can be found here.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a psychiatrist who pioneered the studies of the near-death process. In her book On Death and Dying (1969), Elisabeth identified five stages that people go through when trying to cope with grief and tragedy. These are:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The first stage is simply not accepting what is happening to you, the news is too large and life changing. In the second stage you are beginning to get a sense that this is real, but have a strong feeling of injustice directed at yourself, "why should this happen to me?" "Who's to blame for how I am feeling?" By the third stage you are starting to look for ways to at least delay your death for a while. "Surely there is something I can do to forestall this?" "I'll do anything to give myself more time." With the fourth stage the reality has sunk in that you are going to die, and the process of greiving really starts, perhaps accompanied by a sense of hopelessness of what you are facing. A sense of pointlessness pervades your life as dying appears to negate the meaning of anything that you are doing in your life. Finally there is acceptance of your death and the space develops to put it into context and start your own preparation for dying.

These five stages can also be a helpful model for comming to terms with the implications of peak oil. As we start to read about peak oil and the implications of the data that we are taking on starts to dawn on us, denial can quickly follow, "this can't be real." "Surely these people have got it wrong." "Where are the books refuting these claims?" Next to follow is anger, perhaps directed at the sense of injustice as you feel that peak oil will get in the way of your future plans, your plans to see the world, career plans, other? As the reality of peak oil becomes more real for you, you start a process of bargaining, "perhaps there is another way of realizing my plans even if this peak oil thing is true?" "Perhaps if I do such & such, I won't have to suffer this loss?" With a greater realization of the truth of what you are hearing, a sense of hopelessness descends on your life, "what's the point?" "We are not prepared for this?" Finally with acceptance of the the truth of what you are reading, the world starts to open up to possibilities - though some still have acceptance but it is acceptance of going to hell in a handbasket. The acceptance that I am speaking of here is seeing the world around you made up of possibilities. Seeing the glass half full (at least!) instead of half empty. Of starting to look for solutions and build on the assets already in existence within our communities.

When looking at peak oil, these are stages that you won't necessarily go through once, but maybe a number of times as new news or realizations come to you. Nevertheless, you will probably also find that you go through the five stages faster with continued familiarity.

For more information on these stages see here. I also touched in on them in my essay for Transition Voice entitled The Meditation of the Red Pill.

These six stages are really an evolution of Kübler-Ross' Five Stages of Grief - see number 2. in this list. The six stages were formulated by Chris Marteson, who writes extensively on the state of the world economy, with a particular focus on the USA where he is from. His formulation of financial matters is particularly influenced by exponential growth. To let Chris tell the story:

Chris has put together a series of videos called The Crash Course, in which he gives a baseline for understanding how the economy works so that you have a better idea the risks that we face.

Chris Martenson's Six stages are:

You will see that the only difference to the Kübler-Ross model is the addition of Fear and this is about being honest and naming the fears that we feel as an understanding of all the data that we hear about sinks in.

A short transcript of a talk given by Chris Martenson on these six stages can be found here.