Even in a year such as 2020 that played host to the coronavirus pandemic whilst also rounding off Earth’s warmest 10 years on record, industry’s big polluters and mega-corporations are keen to place the lion’s share of climate blame onto individuals. This takes a toll on the mental health of climate activists around the world. In this article, our authors argue that climate care can come in forms other than in-person protest and lobbying; one of these forms, crucial to maintaining mental wellbeing, is self-care.
Goal three of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals aims to ensure ‘healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. Themes that we might immediately associate with good health could include eating well and regular exercise. However, the less visible side of health is often neglected: that is, mental and emotional well-being.
In 2020, the world watched on as Australia and the US west coast endured extreme bushfires; we recognised that climate targets agreed in Paris may not be ambitious enough to limit warming to well below 2°C, and experienced what would become known as the worst public health crisis in generations. 2020 also marked the joint hottest year on record, with temperatures 1.6°C above the long-term average. As a result of all these events, as well as those not mentioned here, it would be a fair assessment to suggest that 2020 was traumatic for many of us. However, when we undergo physical trauma, it is often presumed that we will see a doctor to heal us, but when trauma is less visible in character, how do we approach it? In other words, how exactly is the climate crisis affecting our emotional well-being, and what impacts are there to pushing our mental health to the side?
Eco-anxiety and the climate crisis
While eco-anxiety remains an unofficial medical diagnosis and is not regarded as a medical condition in and of itself, it can fall under other generalised anxiety disorders and has the potential to worsen other mental health issues people may be suffering from. Since the IPCC’s 2018 special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C, eco-psychologists from Britain have seen ‘great increases’ in the amount of clients needing to talk about their experiences with eco-anxiety. However, it is important to mention that climate anxiety does not affect everyone in the same way. While much of the media’s attention is focused on the impact eco-anxiety is having on young people, parents of young children have also reported concerns over the climate crisis becoming more prominent in their day-to-day lives, leading some to re-evaluate whether they want to have more children in the future. Likewise, those located in regions highly affected by the changing climate are not only bearing the brunt of its physical effects, but are dealing with incredible amounts of eco-anxiety in their day-to-day lives.
Symptoms of eco-anxiety can also range in severity. Mild symptoms can be very similar to those of general anxiety. That is, insomnia and feelings of sadness and restlessness. These can often be remedied by seeking counsel in friends and family. However, professional medical advice should be sought if these feelings are sustained over an extended period of time and dramatically affect one’s mood.
Learning to recognise and embrace our emotions
We are at a critical juncture in our planet’s climate: while the (in)actions of the present may be distressing, nature can also be a source of joy and happiness. The diversity of emotional connections to our environment is what urged environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht to coin various neologisms to help us articulate ourselves when expressing emotions. Knowing that a particular feeling or set of emotions has a term assigned to it can often provide us with the validation we need to recognise that we are not alone in dealing with difficult emotions; it can also present us with a community to go to when things are worth celebrating.
1. Solastalgia: the first of these neologisms, and perhaps Albrecht’s most famous. Defined as a type of sorrow, solastalgia is the sadness felt for a place when its environment has been negatively impacted, perhaps by deforestation, flooding, development or forest fires.
2. Eco-paralysis: Eco-paralysis can be best explained as an inability to respond to the climate crisis. This can be due to feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the issue at hand.
3. Tierratrauma: Tierratrauma is characterised by experiencing (first-hand or otherwise) the destruction of the natural environment. This could be through oil spills, hurricanes, floods and so on. Tierratrauma is thought of as being more intense and visceral than solastalgia.
4. Eco-Guilt: As can be presumed by its name, eco-guilt comprises of thinking that you, as an individual, could have done more or can currently do more to prevent climate change. While we can all contribute to reducing our own carbon footprints, eco-guilt often places the onus on the individual rather than large corporate polluters who are delaying and actively lobbying against climate reform.
5. Soliphilia: Soliphilia describes the feeling of care and appreciation for a particular location or bioregion. It also encapsulates the interconnections between humans and the rest of nature.
Incorporating self-care into activism
Our relationship with nature, then, is complicated. While we may feel joy and euphoria when seeing nature at its best, this also means that we, as humans, are predisposed to feel pain when the world around us is being harmed. As a consequence, we must incorporate self-care into our activism. Focusing on positive events, like the US’ re-entry into the Paris Agreement, can be a good start. It is vital that we look after ourselves and each other so as not to suffer from burn-out or inertia whilst also acting to best protect our common home.
For more suggestions on how to positively respond to eco-anxiety, make sure to check out the SDG working group’s upcoming mental health factsheet!
If you are in need of support, please reach out to loved ones and medical professionals. Below, you can find youth mental health helplines across Europe:
https://www.mhe-sme.org/library/youth-helplines/?location=be.
Author: Hannah Harrison