Psychiatrists can spur climate action by flying balloons around the planet – Can it be done?
Essays by Eric Worrall
“…I have to tell them something that will wake them up.”
To tackle climate change, this psychiatrist has gone where no one has gone before
November 29, 2022
H. Steven Moffic, MDPsychiatry and inner space—closer than you think.
MENTAL OPINION ON THE DAILY NEWS
In my November 15, 2022 column, “I CALL for more climate action!“I lament the slowness of society and psychiatry to help reduce climate change and instability. I asked for creative ways to get the climate’s attention. I found one by chance.
While writing what has become the column “A day of unleashing dreams and nightmares,” I have CNN turned on in the background. I’m doing a little research on a person who is flying a hot air balloon around the earth to save fossil fuels. Then he was being interviewed and I stopped writing to listen. To my great surprise, he was also identified as a Swedish psychiatrist: Bertrand Piccard, MD. I never heard of him.
… In 1999, Bertrand made history with the first non-stop balloon flight around the world, topping out in 2016 when he did the same with a solar-powered plane.
…
“My experience as a psychiatrist is that you have to speak the language of the people you want to convince. . . I have to tell them something that will wake them up.”
…
I have to admit, there’s something fascinating about the visions of psychiatrists riding hot air balloons around the planet calling people to wake up to climate change.
I have thought about cutting back on participation in psychotropic drug trials, but I believe the real culprit is CNN.
The author admits CNN was in the background when the inspiration hit. Think about the psychological harm that watching and listening to CNN all day can cause. Perhaps the distress caused by constant exposure to CNN sometimes leads to deep fantasies of running away and leaving the planet, even if CNN only serves as background noise.
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