If you’re not at least a bit terrified by the climate and ecological breakdown unfolding before our eyes, you haven’t grasped the scale of the crisis. Eco-anxiety, defined as “a chronic(长期的)fear of environmental doom”, is on the rise. But redirecting this anxiety into anger and collective action might just pull humanity back from the brink.
We don’t yet know how deeply eco-anxiety affects people, but we can learn not to repeat the mistakes of long-gone societies lost to environmental collapse. Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed uncovers the common driver that led to the fall of ancient civilizations such as the Central American Mayan, the remote Pacific Easter Island, and the Mycenae: People accidentally destroyed the environmental resources on which their societies depended.
Today, we are living in a new climate and ecological age. The new normal is one that humans have never before experienced on earth, and that has occurred within a single generation. We can’t claim ignorance. Numerous scientific reports show: unprecedented(空前的)wildfires in the Arctic, heatwaves annually breaking records, the Amazon shrinking and drying, and species extinction rates accelerating. Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented.
So, it’s not surprising that eco-anxiety is on the rise. Anxiety is often a private emotional state: We feel alone, stuck inside our own heads, and our emotions stop us from doing the things we want. But anger, directed appropriately, can fuel powerful collective action for change.
We are on a pathway to destroy the global conditions for human survival. Unlike previous civilizations, we have the science and technology to understand our danger and chart a new pathway. This is a moment for all of us to channel our eco-anxiety, fear and anger into energy for change.
【小题1】Which of the following best describes “eco-anxiety”?| A．Uncertainty about the future. | B．Anxiety about modern civilization. |
| C．Fear of changes in the living standard. | D．Worries about the destruction of nature. |
| A．To warn people to learn a lesson from the past. |
| B．To prove the importance of ancient civilizations. |
| C．To present the collapse of ancient civilizations. |
| D．To add some background information on eco-anxiety. |
| A．People lack the knowledge about nature. | B．Nature is in its most dangerous state ever. |
| C．Climate issues can’t be solved effectively. | D．People have limited access to natural resources. |
| A．Frustrated. | B．Doubtful. | C．Hopeful. | D．Concerned. |
