In the second episode of Grounding: Conversations on Mental Health and Mother Earth, host Sarah Aronson and guests Dr. Robin Cooper, Michelle Uberuaga, and writer, environmentalist, and interdisciplinary artist, Priya Subberwal work to understand how air pollution and wildfire smoke impact how we feel, connect with each other and our surroundings, and (in Priya’s case) how we translate that understanding into art.
As a note: This episode contains references to mental health issues, including suicide, so please take care of yourself when listening.
Climate Psychology Alliance North America
https://www.climatepsychology.us
Moms Clean Air Force
https://www.momscleanairforce.org
Montana Wildfire Smoke
montanawildfiresmoke.org
Priya Subberwal reads “Untitled”
https://www.mtclimatestories.org/recordings/fire
Notes:
(00:00) This episode contains references to mental health issues including suicide
(03:25) Air pollution where the particles are less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, or PM 2.5, are called “ultrafine particles” and can be as tiny as one-50th the width of a single human hair
(05:50) We need to have better tools for measuring wildfire smoke
(06:44) Air pollution is one of the most significant public health concerns of our time
(07:35) Dirty air is going straight into our brains and has a profound impact on our brain function, particularly for vulnerable groups
(08:55) Wildfire is a major contributor to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and shakes people to the core
(09:50) When our brains anticipate trauma, our mental and emotional coping mechanisms kick in—and in some cases, this might look like a denial of the reality around us, or it might mean ignoring the geographic or financial privilege we carry in the world, believing that what is happening outside of our hyperlocal bubbles does not or cannot affect us
(13:17) People with privileged positions at our society are able to more easily soften their lived experience of climate change, while those closer to the margins struggle to mitigate the effects
(16:49) In 1988, the Warm Springs Creek Fire tore through the Elkhorn Mountains, south of Helena, Montana
(18:09) We're still learning to live with wildfire
(19:44) People in cities are not used to wildfires in the same ways we are here in Montana, and they're more likely to pay attention to the ways air pollution like smoke is impacting their bodies
(21:25) A resource for Montanans: montanawildfiresmoke.org
(23:19) We need people to feel hope
(25:25) Along with trauma and grief, there is resilience and there is joy
(26:16) The idea that we’re hurtling towards the end is deeply uncreative
(27:18) Make air quality a part of your climate adaptation plan
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Dr. Robin Cooper is a psychiatrist in private practice in San Francisco, where she has treated patients for 40 years. She is Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco as voluntary faculty. Since learning about the threats of climate disruption over a decade ago, Dr. Cooper co-founded and is currently president of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, a national group of over 925 psychiatrists and mental health professionals dedicated to understanding, educating, and advocating about the impacts of climate change on mental health.
Michelle Uberuaga is the Montana state coordinator. She helped launch the Moms Clean Air Force chapter in Montana in 2015 and has grown Moms to nearly 4,000 Montana members. Michelle also serves as the Executive Director of a community-based conservation group, Park County Environmental Council (PCEC). In this role, she helped a group of business leaders stop two gold mines on the border of Yellowstone National Park through the passage of the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act. From 2011 to 2021, Michelle worked as an environmental attorney and managed her own private law practice specializing in land use and energy work at the Public Service Commission. Michelle’s work has been featured by NBC News NOW, Business Insider, Parents, E&E News, the Montana Standard, NBC Montana, Montana Free Press, Montana Public Radio, and the Billings Gazette.
Priya Subberwal is an interdisciplinary ecologist and artist with an extensive background in multimedia storytelling and a passion for connecting with the natural world through art.
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In this series, we work to better understand the feelings so many of us have, but may not be able to name—the internal emotional experiences we have as we react to the changing climate around us. We call some of the psychological impacts of climate change eco anxiety or climate anxiety.
Grounding is produced by Jake Birch, Lauren Korn, and Sarah Aronson. Theme song by Brian Ramirez. Artwork by April Werle. Engineering by Chris Moyles. Mixed by Jake Birch. Special thanks to Michael Marsolek, Noah Epps, Emma Bucher, Clare Menahan, and Alice Sauter. Grounding is a production of Montana Public Radio.
