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+--- Thread: 'Climate-Anxious' students worried by pesticides need a sci lesson (Zoomer community) (/thread-12607.html)
'Climate-Anxious' students worried by pesticides need a sci lesson (Zoomer community) - C C - Jul 26, 2022
https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/07/25/climate-anxious-college-students-troubled-pesticides-need-science-lesson-16450
INTRO: Like most people, I harbor a set of pretty standard concerns: paying bills, balancing work and family life, and protecting my son from crazy people who “identify” as frogs.
Many of America's college students don't have such pedestrian troubles, though. They're not worried about gas prices or the well being of the next generation. Instead, they're overwhelmed by the prospect of catastrophic climate change, and they fight this “climate anxiety” by protesting the use of synthetic pesticides on university campuses. As US News & World Report noted last week:
"A movement to eliminate toxic herbicides from school grounds offers lessons for students and campuses looking to combat climate change and protect human health."
The story highlighted the experience of one Brandeis University student named Charlene, who “experiences climate anxiety – a chronic fear of environmental doom – and was, at the time, looking for an outlet.” Establishing an herbicide-free campus campaign with other college revolutionaries was the exhaust port she needed:
“It has been so good for my mental health to get outdoors and weed alongside like-minded students and the grounds team,” Charlene says. “Spending time outside with my hands in the dirt helps take my mind off of immediate pressing concerns like classes, homework and midterms (or) finals, while also allowing an outlet for existential issues like climate change.”
If pulling weeds alleviates Charlene's stress, God bless her. But her campus activism will do nothing to slow climate change. In fact, she is a small part of the larger effort to restrict technologies we need to farm sustainably in the coming years... (MORE - details)