Climate Anxiety

By Violaine Gabriel

It is Monday morning; you are on the bus going to work and thinking about the important meeting you have on in the afternoon. You think that scrolling down on your phone will make you think of something else. However, the headlines in your news feed alternate between ‘Uncontrollable forest fires in California’, ‘The Amazon rainforest is starting to collapse’, ‘Polar ice caps are melting at unprecedented rates’ and ‘Floods and droughts in Australia may become too much to bear’. On another occasion, you organise a trip to go visit your parents from Australia to Europe. As you buy your flight tickets you realise how much carbon emission this one trip will release in the atmosphere. You start feeling guilty about your own actions and the consequences they will have on future generations. What is climate anxiety and who is affected by it?

2/5/2023 of fast-changing environments. Common symptoms of climate anxiety may range from obsessive thinking to panic attacks and insomnia.

While some people’s mental health is directly impacted by climate change (e.g., people who are displaced because of extreme weather events), the undirect psychological effects of climate change have been less understood (Wu et al., 2020). Indeed, with little data available, the predominance of climate anxiety is often a challenging measure. However, the psychological effects of climate change have been most noticeable in younger people (aged between 10 and 24 years) who may be disproportionally affected. Advocacy by young climate activists such as Greta Thunberg and global climate strikes such as Friday for Future have shown the stress that may be experienced by the younger generation when faced with the future.

How to manage climate anxiety?

It is first important to note that climate anxiety is common among people. Therefore, if you are anxious about our future, remind yourself that you are not alone and talking about such anxiety can help reduce the symptoms associated with climate anxiety. Along with joining other people and communicating fears of climate change, taking action is often the best treatment to climate anxiety (Collier, 2022). Indeed, because climate anxiety is characterised by uncertainty and loss of control, acting helps to be in control of the situation. Many actions that can be taken to reduce the effects of climate change and the anxiety associated with these effects.

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Signing petitions, sending emails to local governmental authorities, joining protests, or simply raising awareness of climate change by educating yourself or people around you are all examples of meaningful actions that can generally help to feel less overwhelmed by climate change.

Overall and while many people feel overwhelmed when looking at the future of our planet, joining other people in a common fight against climate change, validating others’ feelings and talking about common fears of our future can result in meaningful actions that can help us all changing the narrative of climate change.

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