It was difficult to pass this off as 'one of those things', given the trend of the past decade - summers that have been consistently hotter, with the odd exception (2003 most notably), than those of the past. Climate change thus fed into the narrative regarding Mallorca's sustainability and so therefore all the debate about tourism.
The summer still a burning memory and attention was paid to documents produced for the Council of Mallorca. These were for Mallorca Strategy 2030, which is concerned with defining the Mallorca of the future, an island capable of surviving the challenges of overpopulation, climate change and economic and resource overexploitation. This strategy was an institutional advance on what had come before - declarations of climate emergency.
Experiencing the effects of climate change and exposure to a regular feed of information, such as those declarations, can heighten anxieties; actually, not can, do, as a recent survey of 9,000 young Spanish people revealed that 82% have suffered anxiety related to the environmental future.
At its most extreme, this has been dubbed eco-anxiety. Pere Joan Femenia, 23, suffers from eco-anxiety. "When I read news and reports about the effects of heat waves, the increase in temperature or when a climate catastrophe occurs, I empathise a great deal and I am aware of there being a great deal of concern but also a sense of impotence."
An environmental activist, the spokesperson for Fridays For Future Mallorca and a member of the platform against the expansion of the airport, he is not the only one who suffers. "Among the group I see it a lot."
Psychologist Carme Aguiló explains that eco-anxiety is not a diagnosis as such but a type of anxiety. "Your life revolves around this subject, you have many recurring thoughts, a feeling of suffocation, seeing the future as catastrophic. When you see an issue that is so big and you feel like a victim of it, this is a sign that there is excessive concern." The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as "the chronic fear of an environmental cataclysm and the stress caused by observing the apparently irrevocable impacts of climate change and by worrying about one's own future and that of future generations".
Aguiló adds: "Worry is one thing, which is justified - I myself am - but anxiety is another, which is a mental disorder. It is the same as healthy eating. It is recommended, but taken to the extreme there is an obsession with healthy food. Everything has a level. I also see a problem with the opposite position - denying important issues like this."
Femenia says: "People I know who have this type of anxiety are not typically going to a psychologist. It is something very new. You end up living with it, because you know that the problem will continue to be there."
Environmental defence therefore becomes a backbone of a person's life. Aguiló recommends avoiding information overload, limiting activism (not participating in a multitude of initiatives) and removing a feeling of wanting to be a saviour of the world. Acting local and thinking local she sees as positive, but if it becomes obsessive, she encourages seeking psychological help.
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I've now woken up from my brainwashing and get my information from David Icke, Matt le tissue and Alex Jones. I've already learned that the world is flat and that the world is run by shape shifting lizards. We are being controlled by a load of far right commies like George Soros and Bill Gates. I'm enlightened!
James WalkerI agree. It's pretty lazy to be so gullible. Yes, dig a bit deeper, and not only will you discover that evidence of both the pandemic and climate change (amongst a plethora of other actual real things) is not only overwhelming, but irrefutable. Conversely, evidence of the nonexistence or falsehood of either seems to be limited to you and a handful of conspiracy theorists (many harbouring the very same agendas you elude to, both political and economic). But you already know that, right? You are amongst the elite insider group, after all. It's a fascinating theory, and may be convincing enough for you to want to believe it, but it isn't quite doing it for me. And the irony alone speaks for itself. On the other hand, for such gargantuan conspiracies to be successful would require the secret willful cooperation of millions, perhaps billions of ordinary people. Your (trumpian-like) theory seems to suggest that they've all been brainwashed in some way - which of course would support your theory, however implausible. Food for thought. Perhaps the secret billionaires behind it all are secretly using that secret mind control machine developed by MI6 back in the 60's, when aliens from the planet Xetox secretly came to impose communism on gullible, innocent Brits. It's a fun theory, but unfortunately it becomes glaringly implausible the minute the secret is revealed. Better to keep it secret, to ensure its success. Oh yes - I'm sure you already know this, but the effectiveness of tinfoil shielding from mind control beams diminishes with every blast. And it's getting more expensive day by day, so better stock up while you can. I've just bought stock in tinfoil, so everybody please do the same. Anyway, Good luck with all that.
@morgan. Nobody said it was top secret you only have to look a bit further than the BBC or Sky news to find it all there in plain sight. Dig a little deeper. But they say ignorence is bliss. It's a lot easier to bumble your way through life being easily led and brainwashed by the State. Critical thinking is to much hard work to some.
James WalkerNo worries, James. There are still a few in this world that are privy to secrets so secret that even the secret people behind it don't know about it. Total fabrications such as the fake pandemic, fake climate change, the secret conspiracy of the "woke" (a word whose definition apparently is so secret that we muggles can only surmise is defined as "anything we we don't like the sound of"). Yet, you lot know with confidence that it's all lies made up by some bunch of brainwashed weirdos (i reckon foreigners). No doubt you "secret elite" also know the secret of how anyone benefits from all these gargantuan lies, and how they've managed to keep it all a secret, despite millions of ordinary people being in on it. It's incredibly impressive, especially considering it's top secret data exchanged by people who otherwise wouldn't know the difference between chalk & cheese, and couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery. All I can say is "wow". Thanks for the enlightenment. Keep up the good work.
@Marvin well at least your admitting it's also a load of bullsh#it.
James WalkerSo the millions who died from covid are faking their own deaths? Where are they all hiding? And all the world's top scientists are wrong about climate change and we should be listening to people like you instead. The real conspiracy if you want to call it that is the governments that are allowing corporations and the super rich to not pay their taxes.This is what is causing a lot of our problems. Hey but it's easier to blame the world's problems on immigrants, woke do gooders, lefties, benefit scroungers etc etc. Now I wonder who owns the media that pushes this agenda? Couldn't be tax dodging billionaires by any chance?
James WalkerAnd there’s you spouting your own bullshit to add to all the other bullshit.
Imagine a population having anxiety about a future which they deny to so many babies each day.
What contributes to this anxiety is MSM bullsh#t. Feeding people this nonsense day in day out just to sell papers or to get people in a state of fear. It was proven with COVID-19 which now turned out to be a load of lies. Move on to the next agenda to scare the public. Made up climate change. To control the masses and make the establishment richer and normal folk poorer. A complete transfer of wealth. And if you still haven't woken up, I'm not sure you ever will. But I'm sure I'll upset afew crazy nut job far left numbties who can't see past the end of there nose.