What is Eco Anxiety? How to Cope with Eco Anxiety – 10 Useful Tips

Climate change is such a hot topic at the moment and rightly so in my opinion. I’ve heard a lot of people ask questions such as “What is eco anxiety?” and “How to cope with eco anxiety?” therefore I thought I would put together some useful tips for how to overcome eco anxiety when you start to feel overwhelmed about climate change and our planet.

The media does a very thorough job of reporting various parts of the climate crisis and how severe weather is effecting parts of the world. The trouble with this is that you might find yourself feeling helpless and worried about our future. In my post I give you some practical ideas for dealing with eco anxiety.

What Is Eco Anxiety?

I’ve seen this description for eco anxiety but I can’t seem to find the source anymore, oops.

“The state of heightened anxiety some people experience relating to climate change.”

Medical News Today has a different way to answer What is eco anxiety?

“Eco-anxiety refers to a fear of environmental damage or ecological disaster. This sense of anxiety is largely based on the current and predicted future state of the environment and human-induced climate change.”

Medical News Today

When I was searched What is eco anxiety, to find a solid definition, I came across a website ecoanxiety.com which has a lot of interesting information about eco anxiety.

They state that eco anxiety is not a recognised medical condition, however eco anxiety and general anxiety have a lot of similarities.

Main Symptoms of Eco Anxiety

Some of the main signs that you might have eco anxiety are as follows:

• Feeling depression, anxiety or panic relating to climate change or the environment
• Feelings of helplessness
• Insomnia and difficulty sleeping
• Restlessness
• Anger or frustration towards older generations and people who deny climate change
• Guilt, shame or regret relating to your carbon footprint or past behaviours
• Difficulty making decisions
• Obsessive thoughts about the climate and weather

Disclaimer – I am not a medical expert and therefore if you feel that you have severe anxiety or depression please do see a doctor or other professional.

Other Terms Used For Eco Anxiety

You may have also heard people refer to eco anxiety as being separated into eco anxiety, eco grief or eco guilt. I’ve also heard people refer to it as climate anxiety and from what I understand, they are one and the same.

I have also seen the term eco therapy used as a combination of things that you can use to combat eco anxiety or just to improve your well-being in general. I will discuss eco-therapy more in the next section of this post.

Ecological Grief

What I found really interesting in one of the ecoanxiety.com articles is that they state along with eco anxiety there is also a condition known as ‘ecological grief’.

Ecological grief refers to the feeling of sorrow and mourning at the current and projected future loss of our natural environment and the impacts of climate change. 

Interestingly they go on to say that like traditional grief, people experiencing ecological grief will go through the five stages:

• Denial
• Anger
• Bargaining
• Depression
• Accepting

The final stage being accepting for example, accepting the loss and making plans for a new way forward based on less or different resources.

How To Cope With Eco Anxiety?

First of all I would like to say that my intention is not to dismiss anyone’s feelings around this subject. Eco anxiety is very much real and I don’t think that it’s something that you can easily just get over as such. Your feelings are 100% valid, however I just wanted to share some some useful tips for how to cope with eco anxiety and channel it into something more positive.

This advice is based on my own experiences with eco anxiety and what I have found to be useful when I feel overwhelmed about climate change and the future of our planet.

Disclaimer – I am not a medical expert and therefore if you feel that you have severe anxiety or depression please do see a doctor or other professional.

“No one is too small to make a difference.”

Greta Thunberg

10 Tips How To Overcome Eco Anxiety

If you’ve established that what you have/or are suffering from is eco anxiety, then these tips should be useful. I would like to express again that you are not alone in this, I have discussed eco anxiety with several people over the last few years and I wanted to share some things that I’ve found helpful when wondering how to cope with eco anxiety.

I may not be a medical expert, however I do suffer from social anxiety and I have taken a cognitive behavioural therapy course in the past when I felt that my anxiety was affecting my life.

1. Take action – This could mean different things to everyone of course. This could be simply spreading awareness about the issues with climate change and the planet with people you know or by changing your habits to more sustainable habits.
2. Get outside – This is sometimes recommended for people who are suffering from depression or anxiety in general. However in my experience when I’m feeling overwhelmed and trying to overcome eco anxiety, I know how much better I feel once I go for a walk in nature.
3. Talk with friends or family – Sometimes the simplest action we can take, is to talk to someone close to you about how you’re feeling. A problem shared is a problem halved, after all.
4. Join a community whether that’s in person or online – One of the biggest things that’s helped me is knowing that I’m not alone, I have met some wonderful people on Instagram in the sustainable community and just knowing that they are experiencing the same as me, just makes it so much easier.
5. Concentrate on just one thing you can switch to a sustainable version – Instead of getting overwhelmed and wanting to change everything in your vicinity to a sustainable version, just start with one thing that you know you can improve on.
6. Know when to switch off and take a break from the media – Of course knowing about the issues with the climate and the earth is important because burying our heads in the sand is not going to make it go away. That-being-said if you are feeling overwhelmed from what you have heard and read, you do sometimes need to take a break from the media or social media for your own well-being.
7. Prioritise self care – Self Care doesn’t just have to mean taking a bath or doing a skincare routine as it’s commonly shown as. Self care is about prioritising your own health, whether that is relaxing and taking a bath, or going for a walk, or making sure you’re getting enough sleep.
8. Consider gardening or growing your own food – Gardening and growing your own food, is said to be really beneficial for our mental health. Give it a try, if you don’t have a garden you can try taking care of indoor plants or herbs.
9. Join any climate change movements – This option might not be suitable for everyone, however what I find really helps me, is taking climate action and joining movements such as #stopcambo which is opposing the new plan for an oil field. I like to feel like I’m doing something, even if it’s online.
10. Know when to seek professional help – This is such an important one. If you feel like your eco anxiety is affecting your mental health severely and your day-to-day life, know that it’s ok to ask for help if you need it. If you already suffer from anxiety or depression, eco anxiety might be making things worse for you.

Eco Therapy

Eco therapy also known as green therapy, is a way of using nature to reduce stress and promote wellbeing in general. This could include the following:

• Getting outside, fresh air is good for the body and mind
• Going for a nature walk
• Gardening and growing your own food
• Forest bathing
• Become part of a community
• Spend time around animals
• Appreciate the life cycle of nature

There are programs that you can join that encourage people to get outside whether that’s working in nature or experiencing nature so look into that if you think that would be beneficial for you.

Summary

Phew, so this is a serious issue to talk about but I do hope that I’ve helped answer what is eco anxiety and given you some ideas for how to cope with eco anxiety yourself.

As someone who suffers from social anxiety and driving anxiety, I know that my fear is usually because I feel like I’m not in control of the situation. With eco anxiety this can feel amplified because it’s not just about us, it’s about the future of our earth. However, being able to channel these feelings into something useful that we can do, is so important to help overcome eco anxiety.

Some other resources that might be helpful to you if you’re suffering and you’re looking for ways to overcome eco anxiety.

The Mix – UK Support for under 25’s 0808 808 4994

Mind – Info@mind.org.uk 0800 123 3393

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