57. KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE
You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!
- Doctor Who, Doctor Who, Season 2
So here we are, armed with knowledge that will guide us to change ourselves into the type of people who put the needs of others ahead of themselves, and help our communities become more resilient in the face of the climate crisis. And, that’s no small accomplishment, because a little bit of knowledge is a formidable weapon, particularly against fear.
Back when I was gung-ho, the military trained me to resist interrogation. They gave me too-small coveralls and boots with no laces and had dogs chase me through blackfly infested woods and swamps for a couple of days until I was good and tired and starving. At that point, they captured me and the simulated interrogations began.
We’d be blindfolded and sat cross-legged with hands on our heads, or stood spread-eagled to lean forward against a wall, all our weight on the balls of our feet and our fingers. White noise would be played, or a baby crying, or the same heavy metal song over and over so we couldn’t sleep, and in between time spent in stress positions we’d be hauled into unfamiliar rooms where bright light would be shone in our faces and role-played captors would call us names and make us feel stupid and do their best to trip us up.
If all this sounds harsh, don’t feel too sorry for me. I volunteered, after all.
Still, seeing as how the training seems so close to what the real thing might be like, you’d be forgiven for wondering why anyone would subject themselves to this experience. The reason is simple and grounded in the reality that our greatest fears are often associated with what we do not know. In the case of a captured soldier, that fear could lead to the death of themselves or of their comrades.
Let me explain.
In my life as a soldier, there was always a chance that I, or someone like me, could be captured by an adversary while on operations. Now, being captured or detained by a hostile military or even a terrorist group could possibly be one of the most stressful situations a soldier could ever find themselves, even more so if, under the shock of capture or torture, they give up information about their own plans or disposition of forces. Of course, this is exactly what an interrogator is trying to do, and to accomplish their goal, they use a number of techniques, the least of which is stress-positions and sleep deprivation.
To help prepare their soldiers to withstand the psychological and physiological stresses of potential captivity, militaries began to simulate the experience so their people knew what to expect. In doing so, soldiers would also be given practical actions they could take if they found themselves in this situation, like breathing techniques and controlled release of information. This is a form of stress inoculation training, and it’s based on the theory that knowing even a little about what’s coming and what to do will help a captured soldier better withstand captivity and, in doing so, increase their chances of survival. In other words, a little knowledge is highly empowering.
What does this have to do with helping our communities become more resilient in the face of climate change? Because like getting captured by an enemy who means to do you harm, there’s a lot to fear about climate change, even with all the knowledge we now possess about how to be resilient in the face of change. If that fear is allowed to develop unchecked, it will create a sense of helplessness1. For both captured soldiers and attempts to prepare for climate change, that means giving up.
If, on the other hand, we know more about what concerns people about climate change and how it is likely to affect us, then we’ve begun to set the foundation for knowledge to be empowering as opposed to fear-inducing, particularly if we can then talk about the actions millions of people are already taking and which are available to us all2. And, funnily enough if you’re still wondering what particular service you’d like to undertake, one of the easiest and most productive acts of service you could do to help your community prepare for climate change is to talk about it with neighbours and community members. All it takes, is the courage to have a conversation.
Katherine Hayhoe, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, New York, One Signal Publishers: 2021.
Ibid.