Topic: Eco-anxiety

Eco-anxiety

As defined by the American Psychological Association, eco-anxiety is the “chronic fear of environmental doom.” In 2011, Glenn Albrecht was the first one to report mental health issues driven by pollution, biodiversity loss, and other ecological disasters. Eco-anxiety was one of the psychoterratic syndromes mentioned by the author. According to a recent review, this fear for the future triggers a series of health implications such as depression, hopelessness, stress, insomnia, functional impairment, and reluctance to have children.

Over the last few years, with the media increasingly covering global warming, eco-anxiety evolved into climate anxiety. Since 2017, google searches for both eco-anxiety and climate anxiety have boomed. In particular, according to a recent YouGov poll, young (16 to 24-year-olds) Brits are more likely to be “very worried” about climate change, as compared to the respondents over 50. On the bright side, 86% of the survey participants reported that going outdoors and being among nature was an effective coping strategy. In addition, having a shared space to explore eco-emotions and engage in storytelling, as demonstrated by a school-based pilot project, reduces young peoples’ eco-anxiety while promoting hope.

©2024 ClimateLit (Antonio Salituro)

Related terms: Climate anxietyclimate griefsolastalgia

 

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by Pari Thomson

“Daisy felt all around her the unmistakeable atmosphere of Mallowmarsh on the breeze: of cool water and silver birches and plum trees, the tang of rich and concentrated green magic that had built up in one place for centuries. She was almost dizzy with it. How could she have not sensed it before?”

by Katherine Rundell

“He’s a guardian. He had not been clear, until this moment, what that meant: it meant this feeling. It meant burning to keep watch, for that which needed to be watched. It meant burning to keep it safe. It meant a ferocious and careful love.”

by Maja Lunde

“But bees cannot be tamed. They can only be tended, receive our care.”

One Earth, cover

by Megan Herbert, Michael E. Mann

“I’m just a kid. What can I do? / Someone must help us. It’s now up to you.”