How to cope with eco-anxiety

It can be hard to stave off despair these days. We’re inundated with bad news about everything from COVID-19 to the mounting threats against democracy to, of course, climate change. The headlines on that front have been particularly awful.

Coming to terms with climate change and its effects while living in constant uncertainty about the world’s future is challenging for any human being.

Technology is forcing us to question the boundaries of our homes and communities. The climate crisis is forcing us to rethink how we treat our shared planet. When asked what their top concerns were for 2022, half of the young people we surveyed said ‘the climate crisis’ — more than double the number who said ‘mental health’ or ‘my relationships’. S... See more

There is debate over what role individual actions play in the climate crisis, given that fossil fuel companies, large corporations and governments are responsible for the overwhelming majority of planet-heating carbon emissions. Focusing on an individual’s impact is a useless, guilt-inducing distraction, detractors say. They point to marketers for ... See more

part of a growing cadre of people, many of them young, who are fighting climate doomism, the notion that it’s too late to turn things around. They believe that focusing solely on terrible climate news can sow dread and paralysis, foster inaction, and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Most people do not feel they or their loved ones could die from the climate crisis this month, and so emergency mode is harder to activate and sustain. As Salamon pointed out to me, if we truly accepted we were in a climate emergency, then every day the news would lead with updates about which countries were reducing their emissions the fastest, an... See more

I also get solace from another change, something quite profound: sustainability has become a cultural movement, and arguably the core value of an entire generation. A 2021 Pew Research report found that 76% of Gen Zs list climate change as among their biggest societal concerns, with 37% listing it as their #1 concern.