What Is Climate Anxiety? Why It Is Affecting GenZ More

About 58 percent of the respondents in a survey said they are "extremely worried and 84 percent are at least moderately worried" about climate change, which is affecting people in their daily lives.

Climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people all over the world. ( Image Source :Getty )

The climate change crisis has aggravated faster than expected all over the world. Rising temperatures, heat waves, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, fires, loss of forest, and glaciers have an impact on a large part of the population, in different geographical areas and with a host of threats to the public. It is a well-documented fact that climate change affects the mental health of humans to a great extent. Multiple reports confirm that climate anxiety is also on the rise in the young population, particularly among GenZ, and millennials.

In this article, we try to highlight what exactly is climate anxiety, who gets affected by it, and what can be done to contain or minimise it.

What Exactly Is Climate Anxiety?

Climate anxiety, also known as eco-anxiety, is a chronic fear, worry, frustration, grief, stress, sadness, anger, and exhaustion pertaining to the climate change crisis and the failure of the government to control it. Experts are of the opinion that eco-anxiety is the state of disconcertment and fear related to the future of the world with respect to the changing climate. It is fuelled by uncertainty and the uncontrollability of the climate crisis across the globe. Climate anxiety has different names such as eco-angst, eco-trauma, and ecological grief.

Climate anxiety usually occurs among people who are more concerned about the climate change crisis and how it will affect people in the future.

Who Is Affected More By Climate Anxiety?

According to The Lancet Global Survey published in September 2021, people across ten different major countries in the world were apprehensive about climate change. The survey was conducted on 10,000 children and young people from countries like Australia, Brazil, Finland, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, the UK, and the USA.

The study found that 58 percent of the respondents were "extremely worried and 84 percent were at least moderately worried."

The report also revealed that about 75 percent of people think the future is frightening. More than 45 percent of them also revealed that "their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning."

Country-wise data stated that about 68 percent of respondents from India were extremely worried about climate change.

The same report concluded that climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people all over the world. Shockingly, they are affected by it in day-to-day life.

World Economic Forum cited a report by the American Psychological Association, which revealed that about 75 percent of Americans are worried about climate change. It also noted that over 25 percent of Americans are alarmed at the rapidly unfolding climate change crisis. These figures have only doubled since 2017 in the country.

In a separate report by the UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists in November 2020, over 57 percent of child and adolescent psychiatrists were seeing children and young people distressed about the climate crisis and the state of the environment.

Children reported being impacted by global warming, floods, and other climate-induced disasters. Climate change and environment-related news and happenings push them into eco-distress, in which they claim feeling low, guilty, angry, helpless, and losing sleep. However, the study noted that eco-distress is not a diagnosis or mental illness.

What Are The Reasons For Climate Anxiety?

There could be several possible reasons for climate anxiety among the younger generation. Eco-anxiety has been mostly reported in people due to high levels of climate crisis awareness and concerns for the future. More eco-empathetic and eco-compassionate people who are also nature lovers have displayed climate anxiety. It is common among environmentalists, scientists, and preservers and conservers of nature. This happens because they feel the government is neither listening to them nor doing enough to control the climate doom.

There are other factors like people fearing that they will have to leave their cities and countries to avoid being affected much by the climate change crisis. Farmers and indigenous people also fear losing access to their farmlands and forests and ultimately being forced to stop local farming due to climate change.

There have been countless examples of people facing local cultural extinctions due to climate change and its deadly effects on their daily lives. The situation becomes even worse when people are not able to take any actions to mitigate climate change despite knowing that it is controllable and that they are being made to pay the price for past government failures.

Climate anxiety is more prevalent among young people because they are more concerned about the future than older generations.

Beyond these factors, the deep penetration of social media has further added to the woes. Children, teenagers, GenZ, and young millennials are learning and reading more about climate change and its effects. There is an information explosion on climate change and clearly visible disasters it is causing to humanity.

How To Overcome Climate Anxiety?

Though a sense of urgency is required, climate change should not lead to the deterioration of mental health issues. Experts believe people should take personal actions to help allay anxieties. These include planting trees, gardening, or even participating in climate-positive action groups. There is also a need to engage in more sustainable living practices.

Is Climate Anxiety A Good Thing?

Experts believe that climate anxiety is good as it means that people are thinking and getting worried about climate change and related disasters. It is expected to result in proactive actions. For instance, UK based psychotherapist Caroline Hickman has said that "eco-anxiety is a healthy response to the situation humans are facing," as it only means increased awareness of the climate emergency. Climate anxiety has already led to a lot of actions to mitigate the climate change crisis across the world.

What Is Climate Optimism?

In simple terms, climate optimism is all about acknowledging climate change and knowing that it can be prevented and mitigated from getting worse than it is at present. It is about realising the prevalence of the climate change crisis but also working to mitigate it simultaneously.

Climate change activists and people affected by climate anxiety say that it is necessary to believe that climate-positive actions are working and that it is worth fighting for. This belief in climate optimism inspires them to work even harder towards controlling or minimising the negative effects of climate change.