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Subjectivity in a context of environmental change: opening new dialogues in mental health research
In a period of unstable experimentation with challenges of globalization of associated risks, and disenchantment with âenduring injusticeâ, we bring forward a consideration of subjectivity to the study of environmental change and mental health. We begin by identifying how mainstream climate change and mental health studies are unable to explain the emergent and co-evolutionary pathways of agency. As a means of freeing these studies of their objective dimensions of linear-causation, we argue in favour of a re-positioning of subjectivity within an appreciation of recognition conflicts and beyond the over-deterministic interpretations of power centresâstate, market or religion. We draw on one example of scientific research that was conducted in a region undergoing strong environmental, social and cultural changes, in the state of SĂŁo Paulo/Brazil, with the aim to open mental health research to new dialogues, to which we contribute with the notion of the âpluriversal subjectâ
Climate change, social dreaming and art: Thinking the unthinkable
Beyond the Scientific Fact
The problem of how people can accept the reality of climate change and its effects on our daily lives is central in climate psychology. Scientific facts have proved remarkably ineffective in leading to necessary changes in lifestyle required on both an individual and a social level. For many, the facts are either traumatic or unacceptable. The requirement posed by global warming to change peopleâs deeply held desires for ever-increasing economic prosperity and the assumed concomitant wellbeing leads to shared and generalised disavowal and denial. In the world of climate change deniers or disavowers the status of scientific factual reality is a significant issue: the scientific facts backed by 97% of the scientific community are not âfact-enoughâ for meaningful social change: information, debates, surveys, focus groups and suchlike fail to open the way to significant action. In the case of climate change we are in a zone of gut rejection: even if it is, it cannot be. Al Goreâs âinconvenienceâ (Gore 2006) is more than that: it is something so inconvenient that it cannot be countenanced.
Psycho-social approaches to climate change, therefore, tend to take a containing approach to peopleâs fears, traumas and deep concerns. For example, Randall and Brownâs (2015) âcarbon conversationsâ project provides practical and experiential psycho-social approaches designed to create contained spaces for reflection and transformation. Through conversation, according to Westcott (2016), there is a chance for denial and disavowal to be converted into hope and trust, without which climate anxieties are repressed and ignored rather than confronted. Such approaches have been positively evaluated by BĂźchs, Hinton and Smith (2015) who summarise the emotions that can be discussed through conversation related to climate change as fear and anxiety, grief, guilt, helplessness and feeling threatened in oneâs identity/status (BĂźchs et al. 2015, p. 622). It is through the careful containment of shared conversations that people are given an opportunity to be released from the isolation, loneliness, guilt and even horror that scientific facts point to. These conversations change the nature and quality of the climate fact through each personâs relation to the facts. In a sense, the reality of the fact is given a potential for being re-experienced, almost as if it were not a factual entity in and of itself. Climate facts are thus subjectivised and their reality is found in the transactions between external and internal world experiencing.
This chapter concentrates on a different way of knowing, focusing on the shared visual and affective aspects of peopleâs relationship to climate change. It uses the data from an art and social dreaming event to explore how the use of affect-laden images in a shared âunconsciousâ context, hidden or unknown, can help us to recognize the reality of climate change. Social dreaming is a method that allows new knowledge to emerge in a gathering of people who share their dreams, associations and feelings together. The method creates a non-threatening, non-judgmental space where difficult thoughts and feelings can be expressed through images (Lawrence 2005; Manley 2014, 2018). In Social dreaming and the visual arts, the realm of worded communication is subsumed into a world of image and affect. Both involve what Donald Meltzer calls the âpoetry of the dreamâ whose role in thinking is that it âcatches and gives formal representation to the passions which are the meaning of our experience so that they may be operated upon by reasonâ (Meltzer 2009 p.47)
Mixed-severity Fire Regimes in Dry Forests of Southern Interior British Columbia, Canada
Historical fire severity is poorly characterized for dry forests in the interior west of North America. We inferred a multicentury history of fire severity from tree rings in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) â ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex P. Lawson & C. Lawson) forests in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. In 2 ha plots distributed systematically over 1105 ha, we determined the dates of fire scars, indicators of low-severity fire, from 125 trees and inferred dates of even-aged cohorts, potential indicators of high-severity fire, from establishment dates of 1270 trees. Most (76%) of the 41 plots contained fire-scarred trees with a mean plot-composite fire scar interval of 21 years (1700â1900). Most (76%) also contained one or two cohorts. At the plot scale, we inferred that the fire regime at most plots was of mixed severity through time (66%) and at the remaining plots of low (20%), high (10%), or unknown (4%) severity through time. We suggest that across our study area, the fire regime was mixed severity over the past several centuries, with low-severity fires most common and often extensive but small, high-severity disturbances also occasionally occurred. Our results present strong evidence for the importance of mixed-severity fire regimes in which low-severity fires dominate in interior Douglas-fir â ponderosa pine forests in western Canada
Dyspnea in Cancer Patients: Prevalence and Associated Factors
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of dyspnea in the general cancer population, the intensity of the symptom as perceived by the patient, and the patient characteristics associated with the presence of dyspnea. Nine hundred and twenty-three cancer outpatients completed visual analogue scales (VAS) and verbal rating scales (VRS-D) to assess the intensity of their dyspnea. Baseline data included variables that were known covariates of dyspnea. Forty-six percent of the patients had some shortness of breath. Only 4% had a diagnosis of lung cancer and 5.4% lung metastases. Risk factors found to be significantly related to the presence of dyspnea were history of smoking; asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); lung irradiation; or a history of exposure to asbestos, coal dust, cotton dust or grain dust (P values from 0.001 to 0.038). The prevalence of dyspnea was strongly related to the number of risk factors a patient had (P < 0.0001). The VAS and VRS-D were significantly correlated, establishing concurrent validity for the VRS-D
A global hotspot for dissolved organic carbon in hypermaritime watersheds of coastal British Columbia
The perhumid region of the coastal temperate rainforest (CTR) of
Pacific North America is one of the wettest places on Earth and contains
numerous small catchments that discharge freshwater and high concentrations
of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) directly to the coastal ocean. However,
empirical data on the flux and composition of DOC exported from these
watersheds are scarce. We established monitoring stations at the outlets of
seven catchments on Calvert and Hecate islands, British Columbia, which
represent the rain-dominated hypermaritime region of the perhumid CTR. Over
several years, we measured stream discharge, stream water DOC concentration,
and stream water dissolved organic-matter (DOM) composition. Discharge and
DOC concentrations were used to calculate DOC fluxes and yields, and DOM
composition was characterized using absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy
with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The areal estimate of annual DOC
yield in water year 2015 was 33.3âŻMg CâŻkmâ2âŻyrâ1, with
individual watersheds ranging from an average of
24.1 to 37.7âŻMg CâŻkmâ2âŻyrâ1. This represents some of the highest
DOC yields to be measured at the coastal margin. We observed seasonality in
the quantity and composition of exports, with the majority of DOC export
occurring during the extended wet period (SeptemberâApril). Stream flow from
catchments reacted quickly to rain inputs, resulting in rapid export of
relatively fresh, highly terrestrial-like DOM. DOC concentration and measures
of DOM composition were related to stream discharge and stream temperature and correlated with watershed attributes, including the extent of lakes and
wetlands, and the thickness of organic and mineral soil horizons. Our discovery
of high DOC yields from these small catchments in the CTR is especially
compelling as they deliver relatively fresh, highly terrestrial organic
matter directly to the coastal ocean. Hypermaritime landscapes are common on
the British Columbia coast, suggesting that this coastal margin may play an
important role in the regional processing of carbon and in linking
terrestrial carbon to marine ecosystems
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