By Elizabeth Courtney

I once read that the secret to a long life is to contract a chronic disease and then take care of it.

I’m banking on that unconventional wisdom, with not one but two chronic illnesses — lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease. These days I’m much more likely to take exercise seriously; eat with an emphasis on nutritional content; enjoy nature, poetry, art, friends and family; get enough sleep and follow the advice of my doctors. 

The parallel might be loose, but I think planet Earth has also contracted a chronic disease. Perhaps if we were to take care of it, we could lengthen the life of this place we call home.

Earth’s disease is called climate change. The symptoms are soaring temperatures, loss of species, water shortages, melting glaciers, severe weather, rising sea levels and ocean acidification, to name a few. In the short run things in Vermont are going to get rough for the winter sports, farming, fishing and tourist industries — a large percentage of our economy.  In the long run, who knows? But if we could just accept the reality of this disease, we might be able to at least manage it, if not cure it. 

When I first learned of my cancer and later on, the Parkinson’s disease, I was shocked and stunned into complete inaction. Soon, I went into full-blown denial. I spoke to no one about my health issues. I ignored advice on treatments. Eventually, I developed a more constructive relationship with my illnesses. 

I am reminded of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the renowned author of “On Death and Dying,” who outlined seven stages in the “cycle of grief” that one may experience in accepting the reality of a tragic loss or a devastating prognosis:  

      Shock: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.

      Denial: Trying to avoid the inevitable.

      Anger: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.

      Bargaining: Seeking in vain for a way out.

      Depression: Final realization of the inevitable.

      Testing: Seeking realistic solutions.

      Acceptance: Finally finding the way forward.

I think that we Americans must be in the stunned shock or the denial phase of grieving the reality of climate change. If we are experiencing a grief cycle, the next phase — which should hopefully happen soon on a collective level and is already in full swing amongst certain populations — is anger.

What about anger? Haven’t we come to that stage, as we confront this shared affliction? Anger counteracts the lethargy of shock and denial. Anger can boot us onto a path to acceptance and hope and help us to address reality head on. 

But here we are, trying to ignore the inevitable, when what we really need is simply to get ticked off! We need an energized movement, one that demands alternatives to the fossil fuel diet — which got us into this trouble — that we have been slavishly addicted to for the past half century. We need to protect and restore the ecosystems and communities that will be necessary to help us weather the already inevitable insults of climate change. 

And we must redouble our lawmaking efforts in Montpelier and Washington — a daunting but especially critical task, as many candidates running this fall for state and federal offices across the country are actually denying climate science.  

We simply cannot afford to be engaged in D.C. politics and Congressional gridlock, and we must not tolerate inaction from our leaders in Vermont. 

What will it take for us to shake off the cloud of denial and act? I hope it won’t require more disasters or worse symptoms.

From my own experience with chronic disease, I know that if we do not motivate ourselves to move through the cycle of grief, to acceptance and hope and to the job of taking care of the causes and lessening the symptoms of our shared disease — climate change — we will blow it for ourselves, our children and their children. 

Let’s not ignore the opportunity to discover the secret to a long life.

Elizabeth Courtney is the executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont’s leading statewide environmental organization, and served on Act 250’s Environmental Board from 1985 to 1994. She can be reached at ecourtney@vnrc.org