Feeling Solastalgic? The Rise of Climate Homesickness

You’re at home with your family on the sofa. Despite being surrounded by loved ones, melancholy is rising within you. Why? Outside the weather is no longer how it used to be. The seasons hardly resemble themselves. You turn on the television and it’s the usual: The Great Barrier Reef is in a state of crisis; polar ice caps are melting. Home, in both the immediate and planetary sense, is changing. How do you feel? Depressed? Longing for a different time?

There’s a term for this: You’re feeling solastalgic.

Solastalgia describes the feeling of distress caused by environmental change, and it was coined by Australian environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht. “It was important to give that feeling a name because it was missing from our language,” Albrecht says from his small farm in Australia’s Hunter Valley region in the eastern state of New South Wales.

It’s high time we start holding parents of obese children accountable. How so? It may sound severe, but the loss of full parenting rights must be an option. Such a loss would, of course, be devastating to the child and adults alike. But it could also be lifesaving. Parents guilty of chronic abuse must realize that very real, very harsh consequences exist. Maybe a three-strike policy would work. The first strike would be a warning, with the second strike resulting in a more severe warning and mandatory training or counseling sessions. The third strike results in temporary loss of parenting rights and possible criminal abuse charges, depending upon the severity of the case.

Over the past year, two of the island nation's broadcast channels have given Beijing-friendly lawmaker and presidential contender Han Kuo-yu nonstop coverage. They've helped create the “Han Wave,” a craze that's transformed a 62-year-old politician once seen as past his prime — while stoking national security fears in Taipei.