Global Warming Syndrome

The Doomsday Clock at the Univ of Chicago was set to 5 minutes to midnight recently...apparently not because of increased threat of nuclear disaster (which was the original reason for the creation of the clock) but rather because of the threat of global warming.

My prediction is that a new anxiety disorder will appear in the popular press soon called something like "Global Warming Syndrome".  Similar to Sudden Wealth Syndrome, which was an anxiety disorder that became front and center after the tech boom that created millionaires out of many many 20-somethings, The movie An Inconvenient Truth might create Global Warming Syndrome.

In the full disclosure department, I must say that I felt a bit of anxiety when in Dec06 there was freakishly warm weather in Chicago.  Every morning I was hoping that it would be cold that day because that would give me some level of emotional comfort.  For me it never reached a level making me dysfunctional, but was rather a nagging little anxiousness.  But for others who are prone to anxiety disorders I can only imagine that it could have profound affects on their emotional well-being.

It may be a small societal price to pay to get people to change their behavior (its working on me as I'm shopping for new energy conserving lightbulbs and doing other conservation-oriented behaviors), but we should not ignore that there will be a societal price that could rise as the drumbeat increases about the pending catastrophe if the world doesn't change.  I wouldn't be surprised that in the future if we did not hear about domestic violence, eco-wackos and other bad behavior driven by disturbed individual's anxiety over global warming.

Maybe its already happening...anybody have any examples of it?

Comments

[Franklyn Galusha]

Adults aren't the only ones stressing over global warming
I have received so many reports about children stressing over global warming. I decided to reach out to psychologists and ask them how a parent can help their children cope with their eco-anxious symptoms. Go here for the results - http://www.personallygreen.com/Children_Stress_about_Global_Warming.htm

[Franklyn Galusha]

Here you go, weird craziness...

Gareth Groves' dream car is now a nightmare.

The '05 Hummer he bought for $38,000 was destroyed outside his Washington, D.C home Tuesday: Windows were smashed; tires were slashed; and even more shocking was the message the vandals carved on the side — “for the environ.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19856925/

[TylerKARLA32]

People deserve good life and personal loans or auto loan will make it better. Because people's freedom relies on money.