To some, those words are inconsequential, things that can be avoided or ignored. Maybe even a hoax – especially climate change. For others, those words represent reality, an oncoming, inevitable tide that must be addressed.
I see these issues being addressed by multiple opinion writers in the media, by certain candidates for public office, by a few communities and a few private citizens. But the painful truth is that we as a society at large are avoiding addressing these issues in a comprehensive way. Why is that?
As a psychiatrist, I have had multiple experiences with patients who have become aware of some painful truth, have realized what needed to be done about it, and then have done nothing.