ENCORE e01 terrified - climate denial bubble

What triggered my climate denial bubble to burst? I feel compelled to share this personal experience, in the hope that it might help others who are also struggling with the current sustainability crisis and searching for a path forward…This is an ENCORE episode of the conscient podcast from season 1, episode 1, first published on April 30, 2020.Kaboom !You’ll understand what this Kaboom is about in a few minutes. This episode…explores my reaction, or at least my experience, when I became much more aware of the climate emergency and what it meant to me and to my family in particular, my daughterOur daughter Clara was 17 when I recorded this episode. Clara’s now 23. In 2024 I recorded e208 clara schryer - science as story where Clara talks about her memory of a conversation we had on May 14th 2019 that proved to pivotal in both our lives:At the time, I think I knew that I was interested in earth science, but I thought maybe I should do engineering because maybe that's actually more useful. And I didn't end up doing that. I ended up doing what I wanted to do, which I think was probably an okay choice. But anyways, that was kind of the context. But I remember that conversation as being one of the first times that you really expressed to me that you were interested in participating in this kind of climate and environment work and that you were kind of, you know, I guess to me that part of that conversation was like, well, you have to make changes in whatever world you are in and you were in the art world, so that's what you kind of focused on. I did end up focusing on art and ecology in a number of ways and that conversation was the triggering point. I remember it  very clearly. We were driving on Mann Street here in Ottawa. You’ll hear the story in a few minutes. This conversation triggered me to retire from my job at Canada Council in September 2020 and to devote myself full time on the climate emergency. I thought it would be interesting to go back to this very first episode of conscient and listen to how talk about my anxiety and terror about the climate crisis that was unfolding. On the morning of May 13th I came upon an article in the Guardian, We’re Doomed: Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will dare mention, where Hillman predicted that ‘the outcome is death, and it’s the end of most life on the planet because we’re so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. There are no means of reversing the process which is melting the polar ice caps.’ The episode is quite disheartening, eg. facing reality directly, but there are moments of hope, for example, at the end of the episode I read this quote from indigenous writer Richard Wagamese’s For Joshua :We may not relight the fires that used to burn in our villages, but we carry the embers from those fires in our hearts and learn to light new fires in a new world. We can recreate the spirit of community we had, of kinship, or relationship to all things, of union with the land, harmony with the universe, balance in living, humility, honesty, truth, and wisdom in all of our dealings with each other.’ And this to me is the power of stories, to help rekindle the embers in our hearts, to recreate the spirit of community we once had… stories have the potential to both terrify us into action but also help us slow down inspire to carry on, to process our grief, deepening our relations and imagine new worlds.Note : Il existe également une version en français de cet épisode sur le balado conscient é02 éveil - éclater ma bulle de dénie. *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESNote : I'm currently 'pressing pause' and am not producing new content until further notice. Hey conscient listeners, I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share togetherIn parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.  Your feedback is always welcome at claude [at] conscient [dot] ca and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.Share what you like, etcI am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Thanks for listening. Claude SchryerLatest update on March 21, 2026