Eco Anxiety

Growing Joy with Plants is the top Home & Garden podcast on Apple Podcasts about houseplants, gardening, and nature-inspired wellness. Plant killer turned Happy Plant Lady (me) Maria Failla, interviews experts on how to successfully care for plants and cultivate joy and calm through doing so.?

Each week this newsletter will share nature-inspired insights, tips, and actionable steps drawn from the conversations.?

Still a plant killer? No worries! We’ve all been there - all plant killers, plant enthusiasts, and plant impartial are welcome. All you need to start is your curiosity. I’ve got your back for the rest.?

Here’s why addressing your eco-anxiety your plants help you grow joy, cultivate calm, weed anxiety…

We're diving into a heavy but very important topic about eco-anxiety in this episode. I'm sitting down with my friend Rachael Cohen, my dear friend, our “green witch,” and author of the new book Self-Care for Eco-Anxiety.

Rachael and I have had so many thought-provoking conversations about interconnecting with nature in past episodes. But this one really opens up about her own intense struggle with eco-anxiety—the fear, rage, paralysis, and all those big negative feels about the earth. So I hope you’d feel inspired and empowered after listening to the episode and don’t forget to check out her book and her website!

Eco-Anxiety

Plant friends, let me ask you this—do you ever feel like the weight of the world's environmental issues is crushing down on you? Like that nagging feeling that the world is ending due to climate change, and your houseplants are silently judging you for not composting? You might just have a case of eco-anxiety.

Signs You May Have Eco-Anxiety

Eco-anxiety is that persistent, growing dread about environmental catastrophe and what it means for the future of this pretty little planet (and your plants).

Are you obsessively composting every banana peel? Are you wondering if your recycling efforts are really making a dent? Are you debating whether it's even ethical to birth children into a world going up in flames?

Bingo, those are textbook eco-anxiety symptoms.

Is Your Anxiety Whispering About Dying Trees?

Now before you spiral into an existential crisis, let's get one thing straight—your anxiety isn't entirely misplaced.

With corporations turning a blind eye and leaders failing to act, we've got legitimate reasons to be concerned about the fate of the earth. Your plants aren't judging you...they're trying to vent about the state of things through the incredible underground gossip network, aka the mycelium network.

Enter the Mother Tree

While the world's problems can feel overwhelming, we have an ally in some surprisingly wise seniors: Mother Trees.

These brilliant elders are the hubs of forest communication, sharing wisdom, resources, and all the world’s info with their surrounding tree community. Best of all, you can connect with them for some free eco-therapy.

How to Calm Your Eco-Nerves

There are many ways to calm eco-nerves, including hugging a tree trunk, planting a bee-friendly garden, or "emotionally composting" your fears into the earth. It will not be easy, but we are together on this journey. One small step at a time, one plant at a time, we'll get through this.

Have you ever experienced eco-anxiety? If so, how did it manifest in your thoughts and actions?

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