An Introduction to Climate Anxiety

An Introduction to Climate Anxiety

By: Anna Thomas, Hailey Schmidt, and Amber Crabb

 

This week, we read the introduction and first chapter of Sarah Jaquette Ray’s A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet. These sections discuss Ray’s journey to understanding climate anxiety, and how educators may be imparting this stress onto younger generations. She describes how climate anxiety can inhibit one’s ability to be hopeful and take action, and can lead to feeling like an environmental burden. There are bright sides, too. Ray says Gen Z is the most diverse generation yet, and the most focused on environmental justice as part of the environmental movement. Furthermore, concern for the environment crosses party lines in our generation, opening up opportunities to take collective action.

In discussion, we considered two broad concepts within the reading and answered related questions. First, we asked about climate anxiety, which Ray describes as, “environmentally related mental health issues [that] exist and are pervasive;” she argues “acceptance of this is the first step” (p. 29). We decided that “climate anxiety” is a constant part of practicing modern environmentalism. Students were also asked: How do you notice climate anxiety affecting your life? In what ways does it affect your choices and/or your motivation to act? How can white “environmentalists” grapple with their own climate anxiety and eco-grief while recognizing and “checking” their relative privilege? 

Many students were drawn to Ray’s flowchart, which summarizes an environmental studies student’s emotional journey through environmental education:

 

“Idealism → lost innocence → guilt → nihilism → self care, rediscover pleasure, bake cookies → hope → efficacy → resilience” (p. 13).

 

Most students agreed they feel stuck bouncing between nihilism and self-care, usually remaining unsure of how to breakthrough to “hope.” One student pointed out grief is a biological process people must physically experience; “eco-grief,” a term used to define the sadness one feels when contemplating the degrading environment, requires a similar confrontation. 

Additionally, students expressed guilt about not engaging enough in individual action. One student pointed out a false dichotomy of blame that is often described in climate work between individual action and the current societal system. They shared they felt they have been swinging on a pendulum between obsessing over individual action and nihilism influenced by a corrupt system. The truth is both are factors in climate injustices, and changes to both are necessary. The challenge is addressing both without exhausting our emotional capabilities.

We also discussed how grief is a product of love. When one’s love for their surrounding environment is great, the pain felt when witnessing its exploitation is also great.

When privilege was brought up, the group considered the fact that much of the climate stress white groups have been dealing with comes from issues many BIPOC have been facing for even longer. While the eco-grief white environmentalists are encountering is valid, it is important to keep in mind that this may be a delayed reaction to issues which have been prevalent for much longer.

One student talked about grief and privilege in reference to a concentric ring model of grief and support. The figure below shows this model with a person affected by the trauma in the middle and layers of people less affected extending outwards. When dealing with a traumatic experience, it is most effective to lean on people on the ring outside of you and it is inappropriate to lean inwards. This can be applied to grief and privilege because, in regards to climate change, people with less privilege are less directly affected by the impacts. It is important for white activists to keep this model in mind to check their relative privilege while processing their own grief.