Do you feel incredibly fearful, helpless, or anxious about climate change? Well, you’re not alone.
In fact, with such an existential threat, you might even be wondering why others don’t feel the same way.
This emotional response—now referred to as eco-anxiety—is a real, prevalent, and well-documented psychological phenomenon.
In this article, we’ll take a deeper look at eco-anxiety—and, more importantly, how to deal with it and healthily channel such emotional energy into productive action.
Understanding Eco-Anxiety
Eco-anxiety arises from the awareness of climate change’s negative effects, feelings of powerlessness to affect it, and the resulting uncertainty about the Earth and humanity’s future.
This is particularly common in younger generations who will inherit the planet. Studies show that up to 42% of people experience eco-anxiety in one way or another.
While not a medical mental health condition per se, it can lead to depression, anxiety, and sleep difficulties. This is further exacerbated by the age of the internet, where news of extreme weather events, deforestation, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss are everywhere.
If you have eco-anxiety, it’s critical to know how to deal with it—both for your own well-being and your ability to contribute to protecting the environment.
Mental Health Strategies for Managing Eco-Anxiety
Below, we go through both mental health strategies and sustainable living tips to help you manage eco-anxiety.
- Acknowledge Your Feelings
The first step to managing your emotions is to acknowledge them in the first place.
Allow yourself the time and space to feel them in full. These emotions, after all, are completely valid and reasonable.
Expressing them, whether through talking to a friend about it or writing it down in a journal, is a great way to determine how, exactly, you feel about climate change.
And with a clearer picture of your psychological state, you can begin to take more specific steps to manage it.
- Stay Informed—But Set Boundaries
Staying educated about climate issues is undoubtedly important. But there comes a point where repetitive, excessive exposure to negative news stops being beneficial and simply harms your mental health.
In the age of social media, this is often done through doom scrolling, where people get almost addicted to consuming large quantities of negative news.
Instead, try setting limits on how much time you spend reading climate-related news. More importantly, news sources should focus not just on the problems but also on solutions and success stories.
- Practice Mindfulness and Self-Care
As valid and inevitable as these negative emotions about the climate might be, it’s important to counterbalance them with positive experiences.
Regularly practice self-care and make it part of your micro-habits for happiness. This can be in the form of meditation, exercise, spending time in nature—or really anything that relieves stress.
- Practice Self-Compassion
Because of eco-anxiety, some people may feel the need to live life perfectly sustainably. But this only causes a lot of unnecessary stress—not to mention, it’s also outright impossible given society at large.
You won’t be able to recycle every single thing. You won’t be able to attend every climate event. That’s okay—we’re all human and imperfect.
- Seek Professional Support When Needed
If eco-anxiety becomes so overwhelming that you have a difficult time performing daily functions, then it’s likely time to seek professional help.
There are therapists who specialize in climate-related distress and who will offer you specific coping strategies for eco-anxiety.
Taking Action Through Advocacy and Sustainable Living
How we feel is often a product of what we do.
By taking tangible action against climate change, we not only actively combat the root source of eco-anxiety (which is climate change), but
But in doing so, we also gain a sense of empowerment, purpose, and solidarity to counteract the feelings of isolation and helplessness of eco-anxiety.
- Reduce Carbon Footprint
Lowering your carbon footprint can actually start with small and simple lifestyle adjustments. In fact, there are many ways to do so with your phone.
Opt for energy-efficient appliances, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and minimize waste and single-use plastic usage. Choosing to walk, bike, or use public transportation instead of driving whenever possible is good.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Practicing the good old three Rs—reducing consumption, reusing materials, and recycling responsibly—not only minimizes waste. If enough people do it, it also decreases the demand for new resource extraction.
It’s one of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions in your home.
Buying second-hand items and using reusable, sustainable containers are also great ways to become more efficient.
- Support Ethical and Eco-Friendly Brands
Choose products from companies that prioritize sustainability and ethical labor practices. This sends a strong message that consumers are dead serious about environmental responsibility.
Look for certifications like Fair Trade, Organic, or B Corp to ensure that you put your money where your mouth is.
After all, regardless of our individual efforts, it’s large companies that cause infinitely more damage to the environment.
If you’re a company yourself, you can contact ForestNation for corporate tree-planting initiatives.
- Engage in Climate Advocacy
In addition, it’s crucial to engage in collective climate advocacy. Government policy, after all, is necessary if we want any kind of large-scale sustainable change.
Contact elected officials. (Or voting for candidates serious about the environment in the first place). Join local environmental organizations. Participate in protests. Take part in environmental volunteering.
Doing so serves as a necessary and empowering reminder that not only are we not alone in feeling this way, but we are also not alone in our efforts.
You can use a VPN to change your digital location and see the various climate events happening in different areas. There are many VPN providers, such as Surfshark vs. NordVPN.
The Power of Individual and Collective Action
Eco-anxiety is a natural response to the bleak reality of climate change. However, it doesn’t have to be paralyzing.
Acknowledge your feelings, set boundaries, and choose your battles. Prioritize yourself, but at the same time, remember to join the collective in advocating for a better, greener world.
It’s the only tangible way we can both tackle the root issue of climate change and feel hopeful amidst the uncertainty in the process.
