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For about 29 years, I worked in the mental health field as a crisis counselor at a community hospital and psychiatric social worker with a regional trauma hospital in Southern New Jersey.

On numerous occasions, I was asked to counsel and offer support services to adults who were experiencing suicidal ideations and may have even attempted suicide.

These were people who could have been experiencing major depression, struggling with paranoid schizophrenia, dealing with low self-esteem, using drugs and alcohol or had found themselves facing a major crisis - like losing their job, going through a divorce or dealing with the death of a friend or family member.

These individuals were often feeling frustrated, angry and overwhelmed. They weren’t making good decisions, weren’t taking care of their physical and mental health, and were ultimately putting their lives in jeopardy or danger. Many of them had contemplated or even tried to end their lives by swallowing a bottle of pills, attempting to shoot themselves or driving their car into a tree.

When I now look at Duluth, which is being confronted with climate change, doesn’t seem to have any sense of urgency and isn’t doing everything possible to prepare and adapt for this new climate reality, I often think back to my experiences working with those individuals who were suicidal and weren’t able to address or adapt to their various life crises and challenges. Makes me wonder if Duluth is a suicidal city.

When the city received a climate vulnerability assessment in 2018, many of our community leaders didn’t read it or publicly respond for several years. And when the city council finally passed the climate emergency resolution in 2021, after the citizens had lobbied for its passage for almost two years, many of our elected officials and the community at-large didn’t appear to understand and appreciate the significance and severity of what was happening.

Thinking about those individuals who are incapable or unwilling to acknowledge and deal with life’s crises, especially when those crises jeopardize their physical and emotional health, I wonder what happens to Duluth if the city denies our climate reality and refuses to make the necessary commitments to addressing climate change, especially given the growing impacts upon the environment as well as the future health and well-being of everyone living here.

Duluth has to ask. Are we really coping with the climate reality facing us or are we in denial and trying to downplay the current and future impacts of climate change?

Are we trying to convince ourselves that we have everything under control when it is very apparent that the city could be losing control in its ability to address and adapt to the climate emergency?
And are we refusing to consider the necessary actions that our city needs to take and mistakenly waiting until things get worse?

What are the warning signs of a suicidal city?

A mayor who won’t talk to his constituents about climate change. City planners and developers who won’t include climate change in their proposals for downtown. The local congressman who supports a president who is dismantling environmental and climate policies and supports the fossil fuel industry.
Someone who is suicidal or attempted suicide, and is putting their life in jeopardy and danger, needs help and support. Likewise, a city which is putting the citizens and environment in jeopardy and danger needs help and support.

If Duluth doesn’t publicly acknowledge and address this climate emergency, then we are committing suicide.

On March 28, the global CO2 atmospheric levels reached a new high of 431.95 ppm.

In the past several weeks, regions around the country have experienced rising temperatures and new extreme weather events. And we keep hearing about more droughts and less water.

In a difficult and dark time like this, I think about Francis Weller’s words of wisdom. In his book In The Absence Of The Ordinary: Soul Work For Times Of Uncertainty, Weller wrote, “How can we meet these unpredictable times with a sense of courage and faith? Courage to keep our hearts open to face the world as it is and faith that something meaningful lingers on the descent. How can we, once again, come to see the holiness that dwells in the darkness?”

Can our city meet these unpredictable times with a sense of courage and faith? Can we admit that we need help and are willing to collectively ask the difficult questions about addressing and dealing with climate change?

If not, is Duluth committing suicide?  Marshall said Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst of Iowa and even Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota may not like the use of the CRA because they are traditionalists and could be “longshot” no votes.

“I know senators on both sides of the aisle have gotten huge amounts of outreach from their constituents opposing this bill,” Smith said in an emailed statement. “Not just from people who are lucky enough to have visited the Boundary Waters, but also those who care about public lands and are deeply concerned how this unprecedented legislative maneuver opens the door to reversing protections for public lands everywhere.”

Related: Task force wades into the complexity of water stewardship in the Land of 10,000 Lakes; mining identified at major issue

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who like Smith is a Democrat, also opposes the resolution.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and it would not take too many GOP “no” votes for Stauber’s resolution to fail if Democrats hold firm in opposition.

But if Trump, who removed a moratorium on sulfide mining that was placed on Superior National Forest by the Obama administration, gets involved, it would be difficult for a Republican to vote “no” on the resolution.

Even if the resolution passes the Senate, there won’t be sulfide mining in Superior National Forest for many years. Mining companies like Twin Metals must apply for federal and state permits, undergo environmental reviews and clear other bureaucratic hurdles.

“It would still be a very lengthy review process before any mine would be permitted,” said Julie Lucas, executive director of Mining Minnesota, who says development of a huge deposit of helium is also impacted by the moratorium.

So, environmental advocates don’t have tunnel vision on only Congress.

They’ll be at the Minnesota Capitol on Wednesday to push for more state protections  for the Boundary Waters. Marshall said they want the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to cancel Twin Metals’ lease based on provisions in a 1990 agreement with the state.

Under the provisions, the state could take this step after 35 years if the company hasn’t actively engaged in mining and hasn’t paid the state $100,000 in royalty payments during a calendar year. Twin Metals hasn’t met either requirement, according to Friends of the Boundary Waters.