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How Eco-anxiety Works · Stuff You Should Know

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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
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  Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know
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  Speaker 1: from House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh. There's Chuck. This is stuff you
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  Speaker 1: should know. As you know, I don't think you've ever
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  Speaker 1: said that the title of our podcast. I'm trying us
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  Speaker 1: something new like that. Let the Mighty Eagle Sword. So, um,
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  Speaker 1: have you ever heard of eugenics? Chuck? Uh? No, because
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  Speaker 1: you tease me before we went on the air and
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  Speaker 1: I asked you what it was so I might add
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  Speaker 1: to the conversation, and you refused. I refused to tell
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  Speaker 1: you did not genuine you really genuinely don't know that
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  Speaker 1: you you already know the answer to Nope. Okay, well
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  Speaker 1: let me tell you a little bit about eugenics. It's
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  Speaker 1: a little history lesson American history to be exact. Early
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  Speaker 1: twentieth century, there was a movement of foot in the
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  Speaker 1: scientific community to basically purify the human race, to make humans,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the best we can possibly be. But to
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  Speaker 1: do that, we had to get rid of humans that
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  Speaker 1: were deemed deficient. And for those of you listening out there,
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  Speaker 1: I just made very very strong air quotes with my fingers. Um.
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  Speaker 1: So these deficient humans were anybody from the uh, mentally infirm, epileptics,
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  Speaker 1: people born blind or deaf, mutes, um, and just basically
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  Speaker 1: anybody who club foot. Oh yeah, you did not want
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  Speaker 1: to be club foot in nineteen in America. But this
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  Speaker 1: is this is a little known aspect of of American history.
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  Speaker 1: The government got behind this, this eugenics movement. And there's
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  Speaker 1: actually I believe there's a few people alive today that
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  Speaker 1: were um sterilized by the federal government. That's eugenics. It
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  Speaker 1: really happened. Well, I'm glad it didn't take. It didn't take,
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  Speaker 1: although it almost did. Um elsewhere and a little old
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  Speaker 1: place we called Germany. Adolf Hitler actually didn't come up
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  Speaker 1: with this idea of you know, the superman of the
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  Speaker 1: Arian race, the perfect race on his own. He got
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  Speaker 1: it from the eugenics movement and a guy named Henry
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  Speaker 1: Ford who was a huge proponent of eugenics. Yep, little
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  Speaker 1: known fact. Let's fast forward to the twenty first century.
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  Speaker 1: Right now, there are at least two women walking the
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  Speaker 1: planet who voluntarily had themselves sterilized. Do you know why
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  Speaker 1: they did? This. Uh, so they couldn't have babies. That's
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  Speaker 1: precisely right. How insightful of you. Uh. The reason that
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  Speaker 1: they did this, yes, was because they didn't want to
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  Speaker 1: contribute to the population and its negative effects on the environment.
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  Speaker 1: This is their their service to the environment. They were
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  Speaker 1: making sure they didn't procreate. Ever, and I'm sure they
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  Speaker 1: probably went to the press to tout this most definitely.
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  Speaker 1: Uh and uh, yeah, it was a big deal. There
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  Speaker 1: was a couple of articles I read on them, and UM,
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  Speaker 1: I guess what I'm trying to say is I would
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  Speaker 1: call that an example of eco anxiety. Yeah, I think
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  Speaker 1: it's I would agree with you there. Do you want
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  Speaker 1: to define eco anxiety? Uh? Sure, echo anxiety is it's
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  Speaker 1: a sort of a new affliction that they've yeah, very new, um,
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  Speaker 1: where people have chronic fears of environmental doom in one
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  Speaker 1: way or the other, whether it's a global warming, uh, flood, famine,
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  Speaker 1: heat waves, extinction, that kind of thing. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly how widely um held this diagnosis is,
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  Speaker 1: but apparently it is real and um it's it's somewhat
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  Speaker 1: like a general anxiety disorder where you have insomnia nervousness, depression,
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Um, except it's very specifically triggered from,
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  Speaker 1: you know, thinking about or being presented with evidence of
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  Speaker 1: the destruction of the environment or even actually I did
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  Speaker 1: a little extra research for a change, and um, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of these folks even just they'll see they'll obsess
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  Speaker 1: over like a can or a water bottle. They'll be
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  Speaker 1: walking down the street and they'll see a can on
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  Speaker 1: on the road and they'll want to stop their car. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I guess they'll be driving. They want to stop their
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  Speaker 1: car just to get bike can probably bike. This one
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  Speaker 1: lady sifts. Yeah, they'd be on a bike. I guess
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  Speaker 1: they sift through the trash sometimes looking for recyclables. I've
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  Speaker 1: actually done that before. I don't consider myself eco anxious though.
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  Speaker 1: It's more just like, well, this can be recycled. Well
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  Speaker 1: I've done that. I've I've just taken something off the
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  Speaker 1: top perhaps yeah, yeah, I didn't like get my hands
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  Speaker 1: really dirty, right, but I don't. I don't make it
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  Speaker 1: a point to go around too trash cans to sift
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  Speaker 1: through them, which I think some of these folks do. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: if that is a symptom of eco anxiety, then maybe
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  Speaker 1: this isn't new because hobos have been doing that for
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  Speaker 1: years maybe, right, Yeah, so maybe these are just hobo's
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  Speaker 1: in disguise, right, they were the first eco anxious yeah exactly.
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  Speaker 1: So um okay, so that's that's eco anxiety. We've we've
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  Speaker 1: got that covered. Um. And it seems like people who
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  Speaker 1: are eco anxious, um are just kind of maybe nervous nellies.
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  Speaker 1: And this is a real outlet forum. I have a
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  Speaker 1: feeling that might be the case that because general anxiety,
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  Speaker 1: yeah exactly. It seems like there's general anxiety and then
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  Speaker 1: emanating from that are these things that can trigger it, right,
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  Speaker 1: think about it, um, Eco anxieties new uh, and it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of developed along with um our consciousness of how
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  Speaker 1: badly we're treating the planet these days. Um. But it
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  Speaker 1: was fear of flying around before airplanes were invented um or.
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  Speaker 1: And there's also a lot of a lot of psychologists
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  Speaker 1: that believe that claustrophobia didn't really generate until or develop
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  Speaker 1: until the modern city and that kind of living close
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  Speaker 1: and all that actually lead to claust phobia. So it
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  Speaker 1: almost seems like this is totally meo pining here. But
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  Speaker 1: it seems like there's general anxiety disorders, and then it
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  Speaker 1: just kind of there's there's triggers for different triggers for
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  Speaker 1: different folks, right, almost like you look for something to
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  Speaker 1: uh to be anxious about exactly. Well, eco anxiety is
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  Speaker 1: the new anxiety du jour. So we should probably tell everybody,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what they can possibly do about this kind
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  Speaker 1: of thing, right. Well, I know that many people who
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  Speaker 1: suffer from eco anxiety feel a great deal of uh
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  Speaker 1: or a great lack of support rather from friends and family.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of times they aren't very understanding because they
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  Speaker 1: think it's not exactly uh cookie, Yeah, they think it's
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  Speaker 1: a little cookie or or if nothing else unfounded. Although
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  Speaker 1: I did notice in the article uh that a gallant
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  Speaker 1: pole states at thirty six percent of Americans say they
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  Speaker 1: worry a great deal about global warming, and that same
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  Speaker 1: pole found thirty of people think that global warming will
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  Speaker 1: pose a threat to their life, for their lifestyle within
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  Speaker 1: their lifetime. Right, So I guess that's a I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I kind of believe that as well. I believe in
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  Speaker 1: got global warming, and I think that it's already having
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  Speaker 1: some negative effects, but I don't carry it around with
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  Speaker 1: me on a daily basis. As far as worrying about it,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a difference, right. I think my problem
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  Speaker 1: with the eco anxiety diagnosis is that any any um
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  Speaker 1: gesture toward the environment, towards protecting the environment that isn't
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  Speaker 1: born exclusively out of a sense of responsibility UH qualifies
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  Speaker 1: as eco anxiety, which I kind of disagree with. But
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  Speaker 1: there's a pretty good explanation for eco anxiety that eco
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  Speaker 1: psychologists have come up with, UM and that basically it's
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  Speaker 1: it's a symptom or a byproduct of our increasing disconnection
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  Speaker 1: from the planet. We have UM, we've created technology that
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  Speaker 1: has effectively taken us out of any kind of need
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  Speaker 1: to be cared for by the planet, or we've at
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  Speaker 1: least UH created that that idea in our minds that
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  Speaker 1: we have insulated ourselves from the planet through technology. We
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  Speaker 1: don't need it any longer except to walk on and
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  Speaker 1: drink the water from it. Any problems we face, we
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  Speaker 1: can basically engineer our way out of it. Right. But
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  Speaker 1: apparently we're supposed to connect with the planet, We're supposed
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  Speaker 1: to feel connected with the planet, So as we get
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  Speaker 1: less and less connected to it, we're getting more and
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  Speaker 1: more eco anxious. That's the explanation as I understand it, right.
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  Speaker 1: And one on that same note, one thing I thought
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  Speaker 1: was kind of funny. Actually, if you want me to
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  Speaker 1: be honest, one of the things that eco therapists will
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  Speaker 1: do at a rate of two fifty uh to help
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  Speaker 1: you cure this will be to advise you to carry
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  Speaker 1: around a rock or a piece of bark to connect
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  Speaker 1: yourself with mother nature. Again. The other suggestion that I
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  Speaker 1: I read that I liked was to go outside, right.
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  Speaker 1: I would love to charge somebody two fifty bucks for
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  Speaker 1: fifty minutes to tell them to go outside, right. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: how do you do that? That's awesome? Sure, yeah, And
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  Speaker 1: you know, we don't want to belittle because it is
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  Speaker 1: a valid If it's a valid concern for somebody, then
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  Speaker 1: who are we to say that it's not. Who are
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  Speaker 1: we to draw judgment on somebody who who walks around
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  Speaker 1: uh in a constant stated panic when they see an
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  Speaker 1: idling car, let's say, or a water bottle sitting on
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  Speaker 1: the ground. Uh. So, while we might think it's a
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  Speaker 1: bit silly, um, they might think that my fear of
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  Speaker 1: of mice is silly. I think your fear of mice
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  Speaker 1: is really silly. Yeah, um. But yeah, I can understand
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  Speaker 1: what you're saying, and I think that's a legitimate thing
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  Speaker 1: to to point out, because however it manifests itself, it's
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  Speaker 1: still in a form of anxiety. But this is perhaps
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  Speaker 1: maybe the most productive form of anxiety there is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't want to just like curl up
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  Speaker 1: in the corner with your your chest, your knees drawn
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  Speaker 1: up to your chest, rocking back and forth. You want
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  Speaker 1: to go pick recyclables out of the trash and do something,
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  Speaker 1: you know, maybe go fight off Japanese whalers in the Arctic,
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  Speaker 1: something like that, right, joined green peace something. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: at least it motivates you to do something that has
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  Speaker 1: a happy end, right, happy ending, or just carry on
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  Speaker 1: a piece of bark in your pocket, which is really
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  Speaker 1: the last do you know, that's not very good advice
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  Speaker 1: if you ask me. I think they can inspire somebody
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  Speaker 1: to actually make change instead of just carrying a rock
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  Speaker 1: carrying yeah, or bark. Um. So, there was one other
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  Speaker 1: aspect that I found kind of interesting about echo anxiety
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  Speaker 1: was that it was largely driven by the media. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I've I completely agree with that, think our friend Al Gore,
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  Speaker 1: I know, Leo DiCaprio YEA has inspired with his film
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  Speaker 1: and an Inconvenient Truth, which was you know, kind of frightening. Yeah. Well,
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  Speaker 1: as with any kind of UM public policy push or campaign, UM,
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  Speaker 1: it has to be the problem has to be identified
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  Speaker 1: and the public has to be alerted to it. But
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  Speaker 1: we generally, especially in America, are fairly lazy and like
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  Speaker 1: to have things spoon fed to us. So the best
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  Speaker 1: way to get us to you know, get off of
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  Speaker 1: the lazy boy and drop our Budweiser and you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe get out there and do something is too scared
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  Speaker 1: the hell out of us. And and it's a it's
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  Speaker 1: a legitimate marketing tactic. There's just some there's just a
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  Speaker 1: acronym called fud, fear, uncertainty, and dread and these are
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  Speaker 1: actually three marketing ploys to get people to do something.
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  Speaker 1: So whether it's you know, saving the Polar Bears or
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  Speaker 1: getting you to go to the Midnight Madness Sale, it's
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  Speaker 1: the same tactics. And I can see how especially missing
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  Speaker 1: the Midnight Man is hell. That's pretty bad. But eventually
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna get over. You're like, that sucks. I missed
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  Speaker 1: out on those savings, but I'll live with the with
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  Speaker 1: the with the environment, the stakes are so much higher
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  Speaker 1: that I think if you're going to try to get
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  Speaker 1: people to act you, you have to you have to
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  Speaker 1: be slightly more delicate. Maybe because you have the eco
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  Speaker 1: actions out there. You gotta be careful with these folks. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: my wife, I wouldn't call her eco anxious, but she
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  Speaker 1: does worry about the polar bears. Sure, stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: Well don't we all? Yeah? So, um, I guess my
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  Speaker 1: advice to our readers would be, and I think I
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  Speaker 1: speak for Chuck as well, the next time you see
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  Speaker 1: a well dressed liberal routing through the trash and pulling
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  Speaker 1: cans out, be extra nice to them because they may
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  Speaker 1: be among the eco anxious. Or tout yourself as an
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  Speaker 1: ecotherapist and take money from them. Yeah, keep keep loads
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  Speaker 1: of bar candy like pharmaceutical samples. Well, don't go anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: We want you to stick around and find out which
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  Speaker 1: article Chuck and I think has the most useful useless
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  Speaker 1: information we've heard in quite some time. Chuck, do you
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  Speaker 1: want to be the big boy who tells them which
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  Speaker 1: article we think has the most useful useless information in it? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: the big boy? Uh, why is it Why is it
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  Speaker 1: a bad idea to scare a vulture? Written by our
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  Speaker 1: colleague Kristen Conner, And do you want to tell everybody
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  Speaker 1: why it's a bad idea? Yeah, because apparently if a
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  Speaker 1: vulture gets scared, it will vomit on cue. And this
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  Speaker 1: vomit is not ordinary vombit. Apparently vulture vomit. It smells
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  Speaker 1: like dead things appropriately appropriately enough, but it also burns, right, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so you should probably just steer clear of vultures anyway. Right.
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  Speaker 1: I would say, we say useless, useful or useful useless,
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  Speaker 1: depending on where you're coming from, because it sounds silly,
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  Speaker 1: But if you ever scared of vulture and it puked
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  Speaker 1: on you, then you find out it's not so silly. Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: You can arm yourself against this eventuality. Learn some vulture
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  Speaker 1: psychology how to keep away from that kind of thing?
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  Speaker 1: Type in why did a bad idea to scare of
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  Speaker 1: vulture into our handy dandy search bar. You can learn
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  Speaker 1: more about eco anxiety by typing in how eco anxiety works.
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  Speaker 1: Both of those articles that would be found in only
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  Speaker 1: one place, that is how stuff works dot com. For
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  Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, is that
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