What Is Eco-Anxiety? Plus Three More Strategies For Success

Wow! Friends! Two weeks ago I wrote about eco-anxiety and it seemed to strike a chord with you. Turns out, we’re probably all suffering some form of the latest and greatest mental health challenge. Other terms I heard bandied around: climate stress and eco-grief. I also heard from some of you about how you’re working through your own eco-anxiety. Here are a few responses:

“Recognizing how broken the world is, and keeping faith that my efforts to combat the climate crisis will account for something.”

Alex

and

“Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. But we’ll get through it”

Donna, recounting lyrics sung by John Denver (“Some Days are Diamonds”)

So what IS eco-grief, exactly and why is it such a big deal? In my last post, I touched on the “what” but today’s post will be a deeper dive. Don’t worry: we won’t stay there! I’ll also offer up three more strategies to successfully combat the head-in-the-sand mentality.

Eco-Anxiety, Defined

(Another heading for this section could be: Finally, a Word For What We’ve All Collectively Been Feeling)

First up, some definitions in the context of climate change. (courtesy of Ashlee Cunsolo et al 2020 – ‘Ecological grief and anxiety: the start of a healthy response to climate change?’ in The Lancet Planetary Health)

Ecological anxiety: apprehension and stress about anticipated threats to salient ecosystems

and

Ecological grief: grief in relation to ecological loss 

Researchers are quick to point out that these concepts are not fully understood and that research is still emerging to quantify and qualify these feelings. But I think it’s safe to say that all of us have, at some point in our lives, come face-to-face with grief. We know its touch and it’s not great.

According to a recent Time magazine article, the term “eco-anxiety” was first coined by the American Psychological Association in 2017 in response to what was then being observed as a rise in chronic fear…of environmental doom. That sinking feeling you get when you see endless news reports of fires, floods, and hurricanes? Turns out it’s legit. Since then, the terms have gone mainstream. More and more studies are cropping up all over the world to validate these feelings and the news is not good: stress, anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide are all on the rise. Egads.

It’s not all bad news…

As both the aforementioned Time and Lancet articles suggest, the fact that we’re all feeling anxious and stressed out about our planet isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, they say, feeling these feelings is a sign of a healthy, natural response to uncertainty or what basically amounts to an existential threat. In other words, if we were all doom-scrolling with a “huh. That sucks. Oh well!” attitude, we’d have bigger problems on our hands.

So eco-anxiety – while definitely not fun – is (to me, anyway) a sign that we’re “not dead yet!” We give a damn: even if it’s purely instinctual, as in a “I-don’t-want-my-home-to-disappear” damn. Hey, that’s good news! The next step is to harness that feeling, employ some success strategies and rinse and repeat often. Thankfully, there are tons.

Below are three simple, accessible, solutions that I’ve been reaching for recently. They work every time, guaranteed.

Three (More) Strategies for Success

Caveat: none of what I’m about to talk about is new. In fact, I’m pretty sure most of this stuff is really, really old. It’s probably not even worth calling these “strategies” and should really be called “getting back to basics.” But personally, I’ve found these ideas useful in combating my own eco-anxiety and reigning in my eco-grief. It’s not just me though: I’m seeing this stuff pop up among my friends and contacts both in real life and in the digital world. There are ways to keep the eco-demons at bay.

Let’s get to ’em:

Put Yourself On the Ground

Grounding: it’s a real-deal thing. Turns out it’s so real, there’s even a specific term (other than grounding!) for it: “earthing.” There is actual evidence to suggest that “grounding” yourself into the earth can improve your mood and reduce stress. But frankly, it’s something we all instinctively know. Go outside right now, and lay in the grass. Or take off your shoes and socks and place your feet right onto the ground. Feel whatever it is that’s under there. Drop your shoulders, close your eyes. Don’t worry – I’ll be here when you get back. It’s good stuff, right??

My friend Pam, who just started her own awesome travel company that takes people on adventures into nature, brought this concept up in a recent post: “there’s something about the beach that is so grounding. Perhaps it’s the urge to walk barefoot as soon as we touch the sand.”

It may not seem like much, but the simple act of getting yourself physically closer to nature – through your feet, back, whatever! – will change your mental state. It don’t mattah if it’s soil, mud, sand, water, grass, or grapes. Put your body close to nature and wait for the effects to take hold.

Plant Something

Similar to putting our bare feet on or in the earth to tap into her energy, growing things is another strategy for reducing eco-anxiety. Let me be clear though: this does not have to be some epic, sprawling, tangled tomato garden (but it can be that, too). The very act of planting anything (or watching something grow) is enough to leave a bright spot on your day.

And it’s not just planting. Surrounding yourself with plants is good, too! I know I’m not alone in having turned my living room into a plant haven during this last year of the pandemic and I am in no way sorry about it. In fact, it’s become a routine to walk around the house with my water pitcher and say hello to all the plants and check in on how they’re doing. New shoots and leaves on plants are enough to leave me feeling positively gleeful, a feeling I really needed this summer as relentless forest fire smoke made things feel downright apocalyptic up in here.

Turn Off the Internet (or, Actively Tune It out)

OK, this might on the surface sound like the digital version of going “la la la I can’t hear you!” but then again, do you really want to overcome eco-anxiety or not?

As I mentioned in my last post, we’re (for better or worse) able to witness so much more than we ever have as a human species. It’s a lot! I mean, sometimes it’s a lot of good stuff: endless cat videos or hilarious GIFs (see above, thank you, Joey) and instant access to friends in faraway places. But most often, especially these days, what we’re seeing in our feeds is bad news or overwhelming news or sad news.

Whereas “back in the day” before we were so connected, we might hear about something bad happening to a neighbour down the road, or personally experience hardship like a crop loss or a death in the family – every so often – now we’re experiencing the collective, global loss of our climate and our blue-marble home…at a pace that feels like every minute of every day.

Have I mentioned that this is a lot?

I for one, do not think that the human brain was meant to ingest and process this much. It can be hard to know what to do with all this information. So, sometimes, the best strategy is to just shut – er – down. More and more, I’m seeing folks on social media mention that they’re taking a break or vacation from their platforms. We’re going back to Internet-free weekends, having plain-Jane phone calls, and writing letters. Digital detoxes are a thing, people, and they’re a great strategy to employ when it feels like the world is on fire.

When Eco-Anxiety Comes A’ Knockin’ – Focus On the Tangible

It occurs to me that perhaps, the reason why these strategies work, is because they get us to focus on something tangible. The world’s problems feel far away, too big, esoteric. And yet, they really hurt. But! Burying your feet in sun-warmed earth, or looking at new growth on a plant, or shutting off your phone to simply let your brain unwind…these are real things that offer us real, instant feedback. The good kind of feedback. The kind that makes you think, “Hey, it’s not so bad. We might get through this.” These things help us recoup our feelings and recharge.

Nobody is saying eco-anxiety goes away. Certainly not me. I – among many other environmentally-minded folks – battle this on a daily basis. Sometimes (depending) it’s an hourly occurrence. These strategies, therefore, really do keep the demons at bay while we rest up for the fight of our lives. Employ them often and let me know how you make out.