The grieving process, sometimes known as the 5 Stages of Loss, is a psychological term attributed to documented studies regarding coping mechanisms. The five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

You might notice something strange: when some people talk about environmental issues it sounds like they are in a stage of the grieving process.

Over what are these people grieving? A loss of a lifestyle that they are accustomed to, possibly. They may have the illusion that switching to renewable energy and being more environmentally responsible will necessarily be difficult. They may carry the illusion that people will no longer have an abundant lifestyle.

You can see that different people are in different stages of accepting this “loss”.

1-Denial- “This isn’t happening.”

“Global warming is a sham. The scientist who support the idea of global warming are doing it for attention, publicity, etc. Either that or they are very confused. Maybe they have good intentions but they are skewing the data. The people who want to enact environmental policies are trying to control our lives.”

2-Anger-”Why me?”

“I don’t see anyone else doing anything about global warming. Manufacturers, oil companies, big retail chains… they just worry about the bottom line. Recycling takes too much time - I have to sort things into too many containers! Recycling doesn’t pay for itself – it’s just taxes down the drain. Are people going to tell me I can’t drive my Humvee?”

3-Bargaining- “I can make up for it.”

“At our company we are concerned about the environment, so we contribute 1% of our profits to renewable energy research. Personally, I can off set my carbon footprint with carbon tax credits. As long as we pass laws that address the issue 15 or 20 years from now we should be okay. After all, we have only been recording weather for a few hundred years – how are we to know what the climate is supposed to be like?”

4-Depression- “I can’t see a way out.”

“We are going to have to be taxed heavily for renewable energy to work. We are going to lose jobs in so many industries. The big oil companies will never let renewable energy happen. Renewable energy would ruin our way of life. I’m just one person - I can’t make a difference. “

5-Acceptance- “I guess it really is happening.”

“Wow, I didn’t know the Dead Sea is in danger of disappearing from over-irrigating its source. Didn’t that happen to the Aral Sea by Russia, too? I can remember when I was a kid there wasn’t any smog over the city - I didn’t realize urban expansion created so much pollution. I’ve seen comparison pictures of places like the Greenland ice shelf and Mount Kilimanjaro. For that much ice to melt that fast, there must be something beyond natural climate affecting that.”

If you put these ideas in this perspective, the more you observe the more you will notice: when it comes to global warming many people are in denial. It might be different reasons for different people, but for some reason they can’t cope with the facts.

This is not the first time a society has faced a large change, nor has it been the first time American society has faced a large change. These are just a handful of examples…

• When the Soviet Empire fell (and this grieving may still be ongoing).

• After Civil Rights movement, when intolerant people were “forced” to integrate.

• When people started driving automobiles instead of riding horses.

• When people confronted the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

We can’t get trapped in a mind set that we must sacrifice enormously to make renewable energy a viable replacement for hydrocarbons (fossil fuels). We can’t be pointing out every inconsistency of how things are said when the overall intention promotes positive direction. We need to have everyone “on the same page” for global sustainability of human civilization. We need to Accept that man-made climate change is very real.

Once we can more fully Accept the reality of man-made climate change, then we can begin the Five Stages of Change.

Right Thinking will lead to Right Action.