Jack Adam Weber practices Traditional Chinese Medicine and writes prose and poetry. His latest book, Climate Cure, argues that we can't fix the climate crisis solely with technological or policy solutions.
Because the root of the crisis, he argues, isn't about carbon or transportation or food production - it's about that collective trauma that our culture visits upon each new generation.
And in order to save humanity (and many other species) from incalculable suffering, we have to (or, "we get to") face our own psychological and spiritual wounds.
In our conversation, we talked about Jack's initiation into climate activism, and his diagnosis of the problem of climate change. In short, it's far more dire than most of us think it is.
I was curious about some of the paradoxes inherent in this work: staying optimistic while experiencing despair; realizing the world is on fire while still taking time for simple pleasures; mobilizing others while not spewing facts and figures.
I was buoyed by Jack's "both-and" approach. Rather than staking out one extreme or another, he's comfortable embracing a multitude of solutions.
Drawing on his practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jack looks at the planet as his patient. And he prescribes both "branch" and "root" treatments: those that treat immediate symptoms, and those that address core dynamics.
Yes to technological approaches that can help in the short run. And yes to deep inner work.
Yes to policies that keep carbon in the ground. And yes to community organization to bring about a just world.
It's a complicated topic, and Jack doesn't seek to simplify it. Rather, he urges us to live with ambiguity at the same time as we roll up our sleeves and doing everything possible, as urgently as possible, to come back into right relationship with nature and ourselves.
Links
Climate Cure: Heal Yourself to Heal the Planet
Jack Adam Weber's writing and coaching website