How to Save the Planet and Combat Climate Anxiety that is Affecting Our Health

The planet is ablaze. And throughout the world, people are starting to realize that our future might not be bearable. The sense of helplessness we have in the face of the climate disaster is clawing its way to the surface in heartbreaking ways, regardless of race, class, or gender: A new era of climate worry is beginning. a time when the scope of our worldwide efforts to combat climate change is inadequate. We who care must live with a creeping sense of dread, despair, and fury over the possibility of an unlivable future while we observe the inaction of those with the greatest ability to avert and prepare for catastrophe.

What exactly is climate anxiety?

33 million people in Pakistan are displaced by floods. In the United States, Europe, and most recently, China, extreme heat waves claim thousands of lives. Numerous people die in the Pacific and Caribbean as a result of hurricanes like Haiyan, Idai, and Maria. We are struggling with the strong emotional landscape that goes along with the facts that the climate catastrophe is real, is destroying our environment, and will only get worse if we don't take revolutionary action right away. Many people throughout the world who see or personally experience the headlines are also battling eco-anxiety. a term that psychologists and mental health specialists have come to characterize as "a persistent fear of environmental calamity" during the past 15 years.

The broad perception that the ecological underpinnings of life are in danger of collapsing, to use Glenn Albrecht's definition from the environmental philosophy. An aspect of eco-anxiety is climate anxiety. It is the dread, sadness, distress, rage, and tiredness you experience when you consider the possibility that you, your children, or perhaps your grandchildren, may not have a future due to unmanaged climate change. People working in the mental health sector have, however, been quick to point out that these are quite normal reactions to a world in flames. We who are eco-anxious are struggling with the "uncertainty, unpredictability, & uncontrollability" of environmental degradation, as described by eco-anxiety specialist Panu Pihkala. The possibility that the future may be far grimmer than the present is dawning on us. This is nothing new for the downtrodden majority who have observed & experienced the world-ending brutality of racial, colonial & economic devastation.

For millennia, marginalized communities have struggled with the dread, terror, and anxiety of existential dangers. White, affluent societies that had previously been mostly shielded from the idea of an unlivable future are now forced to confront this fear and worry head-on. But these strong feelings we experience are not indicative of any defects or illnesses; on the contrary, they are a sign of a profound sense of empathy and compassion for our surroundings and our community. However, worry about the climate disaster or the extinction of species may quickly turn into doomsday thinking, indifference, or nihilism if left unprocessed, which is why it's so important to recognize and manage these difficult feelings.

The key, according to Generation Dread author Britt Wray, is to be able to supportively navigate through the emotion to avoid being mired in gloom or embarking on a doomsday mentality. Therefore, managing our climate worries is essential for maintaining the strength of our activism and, if unchecked, may breed pessimism.

A vulnerable emotional condition that ecofascist solutions can exploit. Although there is undoubtedly more going on, we are already noticing signs of this undetected eco-distress in the manifestos of both the shooters in El Paso and Christchurch. sentiments that are mirrored in requests for forced sterilizations and border closures. When it comes to addressing the climate problem, we need to take care of the mental health of our communities because, if we don't, our repressed emotions may wear us out or, even worse, may violently rise to the surface. Later on, we'll discuss how to deal with our climate fear, but for now, it's important to comprehend who is affected by it and go a bit deeper into its underlying roots.

Why do we have climate anxiety?

When you hear about enormous ice sheets that are on the point of collapsing and then read how fossil fuel firms are recording record profits, it's difficult to feel upbeat or hopeful. I constantly worry about the future and lament the harm that climate change has already wreaked on this planet, but I also realize that I'm not the only one who feels these things. According to a 2019 American Psychological Association survey, 47% of participants between the ages of 18 and 34 reported that their "worry about the climate was hurting their everyday life." While global research of 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25 revealed that 84% of them were at least somewhat concerned about climate change and that 45% of them said that their sentiments about it had a detrimental impact on their day-to-day activities and functioning.

The younger generation is disproportionately affected by climate concern, which is pervasive. a generation whose entire future seemed to be in doubt. Often, the perceived inability of governments and leaders to fully confront this problem at the scale it takes worsens the anxiety around climate change. This anxiety is not merely linked to the collapse of an imagined future society. This served as the catalyst for Greta Thunberg's school walkout, activist Vanessa Nakate's public statements, and the global climate protests that are attracting millions of people. Our world leaders are doing very little to stop the climate calamity that is already causing extinction-level events and killing millions of people in our time. It seems reasonable that this delay and uncertainty are causing worry in me and many other people.

For those who have survived climatic calamities, this climate misery is rendered considerably more severe. The number of people forced to deal with the agony of hurricanes ripping apart their homes and families, drought making whole livelihoods unsustainable, and wildfires turning hometowns into mounds of ash will only increase as the situation worsens. A poll conducted four months after Hurricane Harvey inundated Houston revealed that 18% of participants were dealing with severe psychological anguish. 7% of the Puerto Rican students polled showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after Hurricane Maria. And it will be harder to deal with the psychological effects of climate change as the planet warms and the atmosphere is filled with carbon dioxide.

This is due to the physical difficulty of thinking in hotter settings. Numerous studies have shown that higher temperatures hurt mental health and that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may potentially reduce our capacity for fundamental thought by 25% by the end of the century. And when the temperature rises, the number of those who commit suicide also increases. According to this study, unchecked climate change might result in anywhere between 9 and 40 thousand more suicides in Mexico and the United States by the year 2050.

We are left with tumultuous emotional landscapes as a result of these extremely chaotic times. We are concerned because the world is burning in front of us and it appears that people in positions of power are not doing anything to stop it. We're worried because a calamity has turned our entire world upside down. And the tools we have to process it all are really limited. According to Britt Wray, "impossible to contend with... inside a culture that still prioritizes capital over compassion and the well-being of the impoverished, the "Other," and the not-yet-born," this fear and the complex emotional landscape that it gives birth to.

Is this truly an issue with only one person?

You have already seen it. In an interview with a cable news network, a climate activist comes down expecting challenging questions, but the journalists instead criticize them for their carbon impact. You're guzzling and destroying the atmosphere with your TV, but you're unwilling to acknowledge it since doing so would expose you as a hypocrite. We are forced to find personal answers to the climate issue, and this pressure to solve this enormous problem that might change the course of the globe wrecks havoc on our mental health. Since the 1970s, when the environmental movement erupted onto the scene, the solution to our ecological problems plastic pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, and water scarcity has been increasingly framed as a matter of many people adjusting their consumption patterns. Increase your recycling, travel less, take fewer showers, and even have fewer children. When we want any significant ecological transition, we are forced to make these hard decisions since there aren't many other options in a world powered by fossil fuels. Cutting off fossil fuels is a very challenging effort for the great majority of people who live paycheck to paycheck.

We are therefore instructed to live flawless zero-impact lives in an economy that makes such a way of life impossible before we can even start to campaign for climate change. That suits the fossil fuel business just fine. ExxonMobil and BP, among others, have invested decades and millions of dollars in shifting the onus of change from their companies to the person. And the plastic business, which is just another source of fossil fuels, actively supported this drive to encourage recycling so that they wouldn't have to clean up the mess they caused. Because of the way the climate problem has been personalized, businesses may pollute like crazy and then accuse us of using their products to cause similar pollution.

It's all too simple to persuade people to feel guilty just for existing, according to journalist Eleanor Cummins, who writes in an article for The New Republic, "When consumers are told they are equally to blame for the climate crisis...but face a dearth of options for actually leading a more climate-friendly life." We are attempting to address societal problems with individual remedies. Neoliberal capitalism's highly compartmentalized reality pushes us to reduce our carbon footprint, and when we unavoidably fail at it, we are ridiculed and made to feel guilty about it. No wonder we feel so guilty and anxious we have been handed the impossible goal of somehow getting rid of fossil fuels before we even start to destroy the fossil fuel business.

I've come to understand that this is a fantastic method to squash a movement before it ever gets off the ground. They won't notice the smokestacks pouring CO2 into the air all around them if everyone is too busy blaming one another and humiliating themselves for not being perfect. The fossil fuel sector prospers in this way. We must battle the guilt and humiliation of not implementing an impractical remedy in addition to our worry over ecological catastrophes. The strong feelings that arise as a result of that failure lead to indifference, passivity, and burnout. Because of this, in addition to seeking external climate solutions, we also need to look within to address and overcome the emotional upheaval that the climate issue brings about.

Internal Activism

It might be solitary to scroll through YouTube videos, Twitter, or Facebook posts. When there is no way to express the feelings that arise from reading articles or seeing films about the climatic disaster that is taking place all around us, it may be quite difficult. The pain, fear, wrath, terror, shame, dread, and sadness you have are typical reactions to seeing the environmental degradation and injustices wreaking havoc on our planet. I've said it before, but I'll say it again because it's crucial. These are indications that you truly care about the world and everyone in it. These feelings might lead you to terrible places, yet they can also be incredibly creative.

In Generation Dread, Britt Wray notes that "our ability for courage and resolution to act is exactly unlocked when we turn toward difficult feelings and have the assistance to process them." When these feelings are acknowledged and allowed to process, they may serve as super-fuel for the external action required to avert the worst possible effects of climate change.

But how can we deal with and overcome these feelings? Before I respond, let me clarify that I am not a mental health professional or therapist. If you are acutely feeling eco-distress or anxiety, please take care of yourself and don't hesitate to seek climate-aware support. If you need them, I've provided some resources for you in the description. Understanding the causes of our ecological worry is merely the first step in what psychologist Caroline Hickman refers to as "interior activism." a procedure where we examine our sorrow, worry, and sadness as they relate to climate change and figure out how to integrate those powerful feelings into our daily lives. This is seen by Hickman and Wray as a protracted process with peaks and dips.

When fear or despair strikes, don't attempt to suppress it; instead, sit with it, accept it, and consider where it came from. Through this process, you may improve your emotional intelligence so that the next time you experience these emotions, you can better comprehend what they are, and how and why you are experiencing them. The objective is to understand these feelings rather than get rid of them so that the next time they surface, they won't be as terrible. This activity is not something you can perform in a quick sitting down; it may be mentally and physically taxing, even painful. Since it's a constant process, we also require coping mechanisms to widen what psychiatrist Dan Siegel refers to as our "window of tolerance." We may improve our ability to handle uncertainty by using techniques like mindfulness exercises, walking, gratitude journals, and meditation.

All of these things increase our capacity to experience lows and perhaps even use negative feelings as motivation for joyful and enjoyable tasks. But dealing with future uncertainty is a big part of dealing with eco-anxiety. Psychologist Mathew Adams thinks that even while the future may be filled with catastrophic gloom, it is also unknown. He claims that uncertainty is one of the "most creative areas for new stories to take shape about how we would wish to live." When we have "binocular vision," as Britt Wray describes it, we retain these two possibilities simultaneously in our minds. She advises holding both the contrary truth that we can never foresee the future with certainty and that major change may always be just minutes away and the seriousness and desolation of an apocalyptic future.

We may encourage a balancing act that employs both fear and optimism to produce a sustained emotional environment by keeping these two visions concurrently in our minds. This internal conflict cannot ultimately take place in private. Agonizing can mean sitting through intense feelings. Humans require support, whether it comes from one-on-one climate-aware therapy, globally spreading Climate Cafes where people can grieve and express their anxiety, or organizations like the Good Grief Network that assist us in processing and overcoming these intense feelings so that we can be more resilient in the face of the climate crisis. Therefore, we must connect with other people who share our values to find support and use our emotional energy to bring about positive change while we are engaging our inner selves.

External Activism

It might be tempting to look for fast cures to turn these unprocessed feelings of worry, grief, and anger into happiness as individuals become more aware of their eco-anxieties. Activism and action are frequently promoted as the solution to climate concerns. While taking outward action is necessary to build a strong support system and participate in significant change if we don't also process inner fear and sadness, we are only covering over wounds that will eventually reawaken. As a result, when we try to utilize activity as an emotional soother and it fails or is defeated, those unacknowledged feelings can swiftly cause burnout. In a period of extreme stress, turning solely to external activity as a shortcut to happiness makes us fragile.

To create movements and actions that are both extremely robust and long-lasting, we need internal activism. All of this is not to say that you shouldn't get involved in climate action campaigns and movements for justice before you take time to reflect on yourself; on the contrary, you may find that finding a supportive, like-minded community that is working toward the future you want to live in is incredibly healing. I want to underline that there are two ways to deal with climate fear, and this is simply one of them. But sometimes it might be overwhelming to simply identify and select a team that is already on the ground carrying out the task. How can I tell which of them adheres to my values? Which organizations are genuinely enacting change? Where do I find a plug? What even can I contribute to the conversation?

My recommendation is to just get started since I also have all of the same concerns and worries. Find out your strengths, joys, and interests by asking yourself these questions. Most certainly, one of your interests or hobbies has to do with the environment, and there's surely an organization working on climate change that could use your expertise and enthusiasm. No group will have members who completely agree with you, but simply joining opens up a world of emotional and practical possibilities. If you're young and living in the US, you may think about locating a local Sunrise Movement chapter. If you don't agree with their political stances, you'll likely discover another organization along the path that shares your beliefs. Consider joining organizations like Fashion Revolution that are attempting to destroy the fast fashion industry if you are passionate about clothing. If you are passionate about food, you might want to support a program promoting food sovereignty. Action can be a very creative process. While working to bring about change in your neighbourhood and environment, develops the relationships between you and other people.

How to Manage Climate Anxiety

We must learn to navigate our complicated emotional landscapes if we are to create social change and a climate revolution. This entails becoming an activist on the inside as well as the outside to develop your emotional intelligence, widen your tolerance window, and learn to live with the unpredictability of a burning world while also gaining the community and support you require through action. When we work through our feelings about climate change, we may find meaning and longevity in our efforts to overthrow fossil-fueled capitalism and build an ethical and sustainable alternative in its place. I still have a long way to go on my activism path. Although difficult and perhaps hurtful, these feelings are what makes you and me human. They are what convey our concern. Be kind to yourself and remember that you are not alone.