Eco-anxiety aka eco-anxiety - what is it and what can you do?
Jennifer Jaschek
28/12/23
Reading time: 8 minutes
Glad you ended up here. Today we're taking time to discuss a topic that concerns not only environmental activists, but everyone:
Eco-anxiety or, in plain English, eco-anxiety. 🌍
Most of the time we are not even aware of the feelings we are dealing with and especially not that there is even a name for these feelings. Together we want to get to the bottom of this fear.
The green elephant in the room
Imagine you are sitting in a cozy circle with friends. You're enjoying your delicious take-out dinner, you've just thrown away the aluminum bowls and plastic bags and suddenly the green elephant bursts into the room: climate change , species extinction, waste of resources and plastic waste - the full environmental program.
How are you feeling about it? Do you sometimes feel like our environmental problems are not just getting under your skin, but straight into your stomach?
That’s exactly what eco-anxiety is.
The feeling when you realize that the world as we know it is falling apart. Suddenly you get butterflies in your stomach, but not the nice, happy ones - more like the nervous ones that suddenly make us believe that everything is too late, or will soon be too late if we don't act. Now.
Eco-anxiety affects many of us without us consciously realizing it. It is the chronic fear of climate change and its effects on living beings and the planet.
Although this type of anxiety is not yet classified as a disease, increasing concern about the climate emergency can lead to serious mental health disorders and depression.
What are the biggest environmental problems related to climate change?
Here we are talking, on the one hand, about the spread of extreme weather phenomena, such as heat waves and fires, hurricanes and typhoons, earthquakes and tidal waves, as well as the rapidly increasing environmental pollution.
Environmental pollution includes important aspects such as the impact of pollution on human and animal health, the accumulation of waste in the oceans, loss of biodiversity, water stress and scarcity, over-exploitation of natural resources and deforestation, and sea level rise. All in all, this poses a threat to the entire ecological balance in the world.
Eco-Anxiety - Not a youth thing
Although it is a neologism, this term has already created a significant place in the linguistic repertoire of people and psychologists worldwide . This type of fear can affect and stress individual people in different ways.
Young people can be particularly troubled by looking into the future and the unknown.
Older people, on the other hand, look back and realize how much has already changed and what is still to come.
Symptoms of climate anxiety can include mild to severe anxiety, stress, difficulty sleeping, and nervousness. In more severe cases, eco-anxiety can even cause depression .
People with severe symptoms often feel strong feelings of guilt about the situation on our planet.
The trigger for the fear
But what are the actual triggers for this fear and uncertainty?
The constant news storm about environmental disasters, scientific reports about the extent of climate change and the constant presence of environmental issues on social media are all factors that can increase our eco-anxiety.
The well-intentioned but sometimes overwhelming calls to action and constant presence of environmental issues in the media can leave us feeling helpless and paralyzed .
How are we supposed to not sweat in the midst of this flood of information ?
How to deal with eco-anxiety?
It's about finding the balance between consuming information and the ability to remain positive and able to act in the midst of information overload .
Fear doesn't just make people aware of dangers. It also motivates you to take action - to actively do something about the threat.
There are enough things you can do - to do something not only against fears, but also against climate change:
- Buy purely regionally and seasonally. Bike to work and support environmental initiatives. Pay attention to your consumer behavior and get involved in local politics. Your small effort will make a big difference.
- Join forces with others. Together you can achieve even more. It's definitely fun and might even make new friends.
- Give yourself a media break. A lot of information is good, but this constant confrontation with difficult topics can weigh heavily on you in the long run. It's better to leave your smartphone at home and spend a day in the countryside.
Final word: Let's chat!
Sure, it's not an easy topic. But talking about it helps us all gain a little more clarity. So next time you're sitting with your friends and the green elephant walks in, talk to him!
Because ultimately we are all part of this big, green story. 🌿🌎