White Middle-Class Women and the Climate Emergency
I was raised middle class in a white middle-class suburb in the Midwest USA. I’m also female. All this means that I was trained to be pleasant and not bring up anything controversial, not talk about anything scary, and not question capitalism or talk about politics. To do any of these things was to be ostracized by and lose closeness with my friends and family.
I see a lot of white middle-class women going numb to important issues and trying to pretend the issues don’t exist. This seems especially true with racism and the climate emergency.
After a recent climate emergency workshop, I decided to organize other white middle-class women, particularly mothers (I’m a new mom). This was scary! I discharged on what it would feel like to bring up the climate emergency to people in my family, early times when I was made to feel like my big ideas were “too much,” and my urgency and wanting to scream, “Wake up!” at my middle-class sisters.
Discharging helped me to write and send an e-mail to fifty white middle-class moms I know and love, including women in my husband’s more politically conservative family. Beforehand I’d sent a draft to a couple of trusted friends and my mom (this was scary, too!) to read and edit. That contradicted my pattern of doing things alone.
In the e-mail I told the women I was terrified about the climate crisis, I was worried for my daughter’s future, and, even though we didn’t talk about it, I assumed that they had similar feelings. Then I briefly explained what the climate emergency is, how it disproportionately affects the Global South and People of the Global Majority, and something about current U.S.-government climate policy. (To keep it short, I included a lot of hyperlinks to online articles.) I made sure to be clear about the reality of the climate emergency but also to set a hopeful tone that communicated how our actions matter and can make a difference and how we still have an opportunity to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
I then asked people to take action with me by either donating to or signing up to join climate justice and advocacy organizations. I listed a handful of such organizations, making sure to include ones led by People of the Global Majority, young people, and moms. Finally, I said that I didn’t want to be alone with my feelings and invited them to share their feelings and ideas with me.
Fifteen women have responded. They’ve all been positive. One friend from high school called and said she had “goosebumps” [a bodily response to excitement and fear]! I’m learning that many of the women are terrified of the climate crisis, alone with their fears, and hampered by the same patterns I’ve accumulated.
Because of Co-Counseling, I can discharge my numbness and fear of speaking up and offer these white middle-class women an opportunity for connection, hope, and action. I plan to continue discharging as well as plan next steps with them.
Sending the e-mail was a major contradiction [to distress] for me, and I’ve felt a big shift. It fills me with hope that these women are also thinking about the crisis and either taking action or wanting to.
I feel certain that if more of us discharge and lead by example, others will follow, join in the fight, and have an impact.
Okemos, Michigan, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for white allies ending racism
(Present Time 205, October 2021)