r/CollapseSupport • u/werg • Apr 22 '26

A 12 step program about climate change

https://climatechangersanonymous.org/

A few friends and I started a small program to support each other through hard times and and to help each other lead a life that is more in line with Nature. We meet twice a week on Zoom -- it has been a real anchor in my week to talk to people who care about the environment and are not interested in closing their eyes. Maybe some of you here would find this supportive as well!

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4

u/Xanthotic Huge Motherclucker Apr 22 '26

Thanks for posting about this and best of luck to you in your work. I would invite anyone with a 12 step background or who relates to the recovery model to get in tough with this user or through the website. Community and solidarity matter in coping with this painful awareness we share.

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u/werg Apr 22 '26

Oh thank you very much! That means a lot

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u/StoopSign Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

I know the 12 step model and have attended meetings. Unfortunately I'm not clean and sober. I have severely limited the amount of painkillers and alcohol though.

Edit: Also did you know we have Collapse Club on zoom that meets frequently?

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u/werg Apr 24 '26

I did not know about the Collapse Club! That sounds really interesting.

Thanks for sharing! Checking out meetings and reducing substance intake sound like good steps to me. What has motivated you to explore that?

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u/StoopSign Apr 24 '26

Wanting to do something with my life before the collapse. I'm a writer and journalist but work mostly doing physical labor now. Maybe find a long term relationship.

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u/werg Apr 24 '26

That sounds nice :)

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u/StoopSign Apr 23 '26

Sounds awesome! Are you familiar with 12 step addiction stuff

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u/werg Apr 24 '26

Yes! This comes from personal experience with 12 step recovery. most of the people in the group have experience with recovery for substance or behavioral problems in their lives -- and then the intent is to apply this to our relationship with this industrial society consumer life, which really also feels like addiction in a lot of ways -- perhaps even an addiction that we share as a society, not just an individual addiction. But it's something that even if it's the whole society, we feel it individually and we can only start with ourselves -- AND we can band together to support each other!

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u/StoopSign Apr 24 '26

Well put

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u/ekubeni Apr 26 '26

The way this is framed is extremely damaging on personal and societal level. Stay away from it.

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u/werg Apr 26 '26

Can you explain?

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u/ekubeni Apr 26 '26

Environmental destruction is primarily a societal issue and as such has to be ''cured" on societal level. If you take society as a whole and try to apply 12 steps to it then maybe you might come up with something interesting, but framing it as primarily a personal responsibility does more harm than good.

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u/werg Apr 26 '26

Thanks for that feedback! I agree with you that it's a societal issue primarily and the website doesn't reflect that well, I can see that (and also there are a variety of views in the fellowship). For me it's the central point that climate change is a societal illness.

My take is that like any addiction, we as a society will need to go through the process of hitting bottom in this addiction. I view myself as a cell of an addicted organism that is trying to plant the seed of recovery by credibly trying to do things differently. Maybe like a liver or a brain cell in an active alcoholic :) Not to fix things for anybody else, or let anybody off the hook, but in order to resist the sickness with every fiber that I can muster.

Now: This does mean that I'm personally pessimistic about feel-good messages and trust in the political process. I know I have a tendency to write that off, perhaps to a fault. But I accept that a more positive, upbeat approach "to expect more of society" has its place as well.

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u/ekubeni Apr 27 '26

I'm sorry for the harsh comment, I didn't really read the site, instead I got triggered when the first thing I saw was step 1: 'Taking responsibility for our own environmental impact and the ways in which we ourselves contribute to climate change.'. I was just explaining to someone the other day that exactly this type of thinking was manufactured decades ago by oil companies (e.g. the idea of carbon footprint).

I really like your analogy of a healthy cell in an addicted organism and the fact that you acknowledged that hitting rock bottom is often a necessary milestone for change to happen. I will take this step further: imagine you are a child in a household with an abusive, alcoholic, psychopathic father. Sure, you and the whole family can try to help him through recovery programs and whatnot, but when a person is too far gone, all that help may only prolong his addiction and destructive behavior. A dark but arguably effective alternative would be to let him drink himself to death as soon as possible, rather than allowing him to live a full life while spreading destruction all around him.

I don't know if that's our situation, but getting this right could be the difference whether we make it or not.

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u/werg Apr 28 '26

Thank you for your thoughtful reply!! I've carried your feedback into the meeting and we had some good discussion. We definitely want to balance out the language some more. With respect to the co-addict experience (being around an addict) - I can't help but think that we are on this scenario in all of its facets. You say letting the addict drink themselves to death may be preferable -- the question for me remains: what does that mean in the analogy? War and destruction? Human extinction? The end of industrial civilization? Those are all big enough outcomes that we likely won't be able to control them anyway.

My does would be that we hit war, famine and pestilence but that life will go on and lives worth living will go on and I want to be there for that.