Resources for Dealing with Climate Grief and Eco-Anxiety

Written By Emma Calder

Written by Katie Thurman, Sustainability Committee member

“Climate change and mental health are inextricably linked. To heal the planet, we have to collectively heal ourselves. ”
— Climate Mental Health Network

Eco-anxiety can be defined as a “chronic fear of environmental doom,” while ecological grief is “the grief felt in relation to experienced or anticipated ecological losses, including the loss of species, ecosystems, and meaningful landscapes due to acute or chronic environmental change (American Psychological Association, 2017; Cunsolo and Ellis, 2018). This grief can also be about the loss of knowledge, culture, and identity as they relate to a particular place – or to the state of the planet as a whole (Bryant, 2019). When ecological grief is felt in response to the impacts and anticipated impacts of climate disruption – including feelings like despair, anger, and fear – this is called climate grief (Bryant, 2019). 

Anxiety and grief can co-exist with positive emotions, but they can also lead to burnout in activism, something people from marginalized communities are at a greater risk of facing (Tremblay, 2022). Burnout describes a feeling of exhaustion and disillusionment stemming from chronic stress (Friends of the Earth, 2023). When activism starts to do a person more harm than good, they are less likely to stay involved, so it is important to learn how to process and manage these emotions (Friends of the Earth, 2023).

Eco-anxiety and Privilege

The nature of one’s eco-anxiety often depends on climate change’s immediacy in their life, and that immediacy often depends on privilege (Tremblay, 2022). If your present is secure and you are worried about a future, then that is inherently a form of privilege (Dellinger, 2021). Among those less privileged and on the frontlines, climate change is a current threat, not a distant likelihood (Tremblay, 2022). For some people, eco-anxiety comes from existential terror, which is disproportionately felt by BIPOC (Tremblay, 2022). This is not to say that white people cannot experience eco-anxiety, but as climate activist Tori Tsui states, “It’s not just about your community. When we’re thinking about the climate crisis, we can’t think individualistically. We need to make sure that we are addressing the injustices that affect other communities more than our own.” Hence, climate grief and anxiety need to be channeled toward collective liberation (Dellinger, 2021).

The following resources are not meant to treat any existing conditions or be a substitute for mental health care.

Strategies:

Health and Wellbeing

1- A.C.T.I.V.A.T.E Strategy (Australian Psychological Society)

The following insights aim to help people come to terms and cope with the profound implications of climate change, so that they stay engaged with the problem, see where their own behavior plays a part, and participate in speedy societal change to restore a safe climate.

  • A: acknowledge feelings about climate change to yourself and others and learn ways of managing feelings so you can face and not avoid the reality of climate change

  • C: create social norms about protecting the environment so that people see that ‘everyone is doing it’ and ‘it’s normal to be green’

  • T: talk about climate change and break the collective silence so that more people see it as a risk that requires action

  • I: inspire positive visions of a low-energy, sustainable, zero-carbon world so that people know what we are working towards and can identify steps to get there

  • V: value it – show people how their core values are often linked to other values that are about restoring a safe climate, and that caring about these issues actually reinforces their core values

  • A: act personally and collectively to contribute to climate change solutions and feel engaged and less despairing

  • T: time is now – show people that climate change is here, now and for sure, so they see it is timely and relevant to them and impacts the things that they care deeply about

  • E: engage with nature to restore your spirits and connect with the very places that you are trying to protect

For a more detailed look at each of these insights, check out the full guide here: The Climate Change Empowerment Handbook 

2- 3-Week Reflection Prompt Challenge for Climate Activists, Organizers, and Engaged Citizens: 21 Days of Rest, Recovery, and Resistance - Shake Up The Establishment 

This 21-day journaling exercise encourages rest, recovery, and resistance to help kickstart a shift in thinking toward climate dreaming and optimism.

3- Generative Somatics: Programs | Generative Somatics 

Somatic practices allow you to access more information about the ways you hold on to your experiences in your body (Raypole, 2020). Somatic experts believe this knowledge, combined with natural movement and touch, can help you work toward healing and wellness (Raypole, 2020). The programs offered at Generative Somatics “support movement leaders to heal from the impacts of trauma and oppression, and to develop embodied skills that can magnify their power in fighting for and building a radically transformed world.” Specific programs for BIPOC are available. 

4- Climate Awakening: Climate Awakening

Being able to explain your feelings and have someone listen and empathize is vital when you are feeling anxious or burned out (Friends of the Earth, 2023). With Climate Awakening, “share your climate terror, grief, and rage with people who understand. Join a Climate Emotions Conversation – a small group sharing and listening session about the climate emergency.”

5- Exhale: Exhale App — KATARA MCCARTY

Learning to calm the nervous system is one suggested tip for dealing with climate distress, particularly through different forms of meditation (Climate Psychiatry Alliance, n.d.). Exhale is a free meditation app that targets BIPOC women. 

6- Climate-Aware Therapy

Eco-anxiety is not defined as a mental illness, but both eco-anxiety and burnout can lead to anxiety disorders and depression (Friends of the Earth, 2023). If you feel so depressed, anxious, or overwhelmed by the climate crisis that you are struggling to stay afloat or stay active in climate-related work, you might want to consider connecting with a climate-aware therapist. Specialized psychotherapists, social workers, and psychiatrists will never pathologize one’s eco-anxiety or dismiss it as catastrophic thinking; instead, they can help provide perspectives, tools, and techniques for coping with it (All We Can Save Project, n.d.).

Places to start:

7- Additional Wellness Tips from the Climate Psychiatry Alliance:

  • Embrace social connection

  • Resist the tendency to catastrophize

  • Foster reasonable, realistic hope

  • Mobilize for collective, socially-engaged action

  • Encourage positive emotions

For more detailed information about these tips visit: https://www.climatepsychiatry.org/climate-distress-coping-toolkit 

Getting Involved

Using eco-anxiety and climate grief as justification for inaction is dangerous, as change is needed now. Joining and participating in groups addressing climate justice is a key part of organizing that can help support your wellbeing (Climate Psychiatry Alliance, n.d.). For instance, you can start with more manageable local actions, but also keep in mind that large solutions require mobilizing for effective policies; so try supporting engagement with political advocacy (Climate Psychiatry Alliance, n.d.).

Consider starting here:

Additionally, finding your “niche” in activism is a common tip when getting involved, as doing work you love can help prevent burnout and keep you engaged.

  • To help find this, start by completing your own Climate Action Venn Diagram:

“A free, video-based online course designed to nourish and strengthen your capacity to act for positive change in the world.”

  • Educate yourself

Staying educated is an important part of climate action. One piece of advice is to seek out slow media focused on environmental and social justice (Roa, 2024).

Where to begin:

Art

Art can help us express the complex experience of what it means to be human at a time of ecological crisis (Bryant, 2019). Art has successfully been used in social movements to evoke emotions, share diverse perspectives, express and communicate, and build resilient communities (Curphey et al., 2023).

To find inspiration:

“Solastalgia is a series of zines, creative arts, and place-based events focused on amplifying youth and intergenerational voices around climate justice themes, eco-anxiety, and the range of eco-emotions brought on by the climate crisis.”

Resources for using art in activism:

Art for wellbeing:

“Whatever path you choose to engage with climate emotions, remember that feeling our feelings is part of climate work. To have our eyes wide open to both destruction and possibility takes courage. May we be fueled by ferocious love for all we can save.”
— All We Can Save Project

When The Sea Talks  - Karla Čurčinski for ArtistsForClimate.org 

Additional Resources:

Sources

Emma Calder
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