Eco‐anxiety: How thinking about climate change‐related environmental decline is affecting our mental health

You would be hard-pressed in 2019 not to be aware of the worldwide social movement and protests relating to climate change. In September this year, millions of school children and adults around the world took to the street demanding urgent action in response to escalating concerns relating to the environment. Furthermore, the United Nations Climate Summit in New York described climate change as the defining issue of our time and the Australian Medical Association recently declared climate change as a health emergency following the lead of many international medical bodies. Clearly, our climate is changing; we are experiencing weather events that are more frequent and intense, and last longer (Jackman et al. 2018). As a result, all health professionals have an important role to play in this regard in the future. Although the issue of climate change usually brings thoughts of environmental impact and physical health concerns to our consciousness, climate change also affects people's mental health. We have known of the impact of climate change-induced weather events and natural disasters on our mental health for some time now; these events cause issues including sleep disorders, stress, anxiety, depression, and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation (Warsini et al. 2014). There is less research, however, on the mental and emotional consequences caused by the awareness of the slow and gradual changes in the environment (Pihkala 2018), a direct result of climate change. We are not as aware of the longer-term impacts, such as the effect of climate change on agriculture and the liveability of towns and cities, and the outcome on our mental health (Clayton et al. 2017). Anyone who lives in a rural area of Australia will be aware of the current impact of the unprecedented weather events causing the current drought, which in turn, has led to severe degradation of the rural environment. Just ask a farmer in New South Wales what their farm looks like at this present time. Pictures of desolate, wind-swept paddocks, and dust storms come to mind as well as fears of fires as the remaining vegetation turns crisp. These conditions cause considerable distress to many people, not only farmers as entire communities feel the impact of climate change. But why are we experiencing negative emotional and mental states as a result of climate change impacts? This could be explained by the biophilia hypothesis (Wilson 1984), which posits that humans have an innate connection with the natural world and derive psychological and well-being benefits from this affiliation. However, climate change-related adverse environmental impacts are disrupting this connection resulting in feelings of loss due to changes to personally significant places (e.g. one's home, community, natural habitats, and precious ecosystems), a phenomenon known as ‘ecological grief’ (Cunsolo & Ellis 2018). Knowing about the changing environmental conditions and the associated mental distress this causes and that these problems will get worse with rising temperatures is manifested as eco-anxiety (Clayton et al. 2017), or solastalgia (Albrecht 2005), or if you prefer, eco-angst (Goleman 2009). Put simply, eco-anxiety is a specific form of anxiety relating to stress or distress caused by environmental changes and our knowledge of them. There is no specific diagnosis of ‘Eco-anxiety’. Self-reported presentations may include panic attacks, insomnia, obsessive thinking, and/or appetite changes caused by environmental concerns (Castelloe 2018). As a result of eco-anxiety, people are becoming anxious about their future (Pihkala 2018) and the future of the planet as we currently know it. As an outcome of developing awareness of the impact of climate change on the environment, some people are spurred to act, such as those we mentioned earlier who protested recently, while others become overwhelmed and anxious; while the anxiety for some people is so intense, they become paralysed and cannot act. This is what Albrecht (2011) calls eco-paralysis where people become so distressed by the issue; they are unable to act, sometimes misinterpreted as apathy. Our climate and our environment are changing. Mental health nurses and other mental health professionals need to take a leading role in reducing and responding to the distress related to climate change. We have an opportunity to minimize the negative impacts of climate change on mental health through our work with individuals, families, and communities. We are trained to provide support for developing active coping skills and self-efficacy as well as promoting hope and social connectedness, as climate change adaptation strategies, to combat psychological distress. We should champion evidence-based climate-related mental health communication to build community resilience, share our expertise on environmental influences on mental health through research and policy briefings at local, state, and federal level, and support climate solutions. We must also take a leading role in helping to ease the burden of our personal impact and of our services on the environment by modelling pro-environmental behaviours, such as reducing waste, increasing reuse and recycling, and by raising public awareness of climate mitigation strategies (e.g. clean energy, water resilience). We realize that there is no single solution to solve this wicked problem of climate anxiety. However, we can address it through our collective action at individual, community, and more broadly, at a national and global level. This will indeed require strong leadership and political will.