Climate Action: An Antidote to Eco-anxiety

Eco-anxiety, also known as climate anxiety, is a chronic fear of environmental doom and a worry about what will happen if the world doesn't act to prevent disaster. It can cause a range of emotions, including:

Anger or frustration
Directed at older generations or government officials who haven't done enough to address climate change, or at those who deny the climate crisis.
Guilt or shame
Over your own contributions to the climate crisis, such as using plastic, eating meat, or running your air conditioner
Dread
Existential dread or feelings of powerlessness, driven by the sense that time is running out to create change
Obsessive thoughts
About the state of the planet, or fatalistic thinking that it's too late to save the planet

In July, I experienced some eco-anxiety when the Northeast was experience a heat & humidity wave and no rain. I obsessively checked the weather radar multiple times a day hoping for rain to come. My thoughts kept coming back to the question, What if we don't get rain? Then, rain came, but not to my area and that rain caused flooding in Vermont only a year after the catastrophic flooding of 2023. I expect the sound of thunder or heavy rain might cause eco-anxiety in a different way for people who experienced two years of flooding.

Why so much eco-anxiety over the weather? I think it is because it is something that is out of our control and hard to predict. And it can have a huge impact on our daily lives.

So how might we alleviate some of this eco-anxiety? Most people seem to agree that the number one way to combat eco-anxiety is to talk about it AND take action.

I recently attended the NH & VT Energy Education Program's Summer Institute where they highlighted how important taking climate action is for those with eco-anxiety. Eco-anxiety seems to have a bigger impact on young people and those who are intimately connected to the natural world or involved in social justice.

3 Ways Educators and Students might TAKE ACTION

The NHEEP/VEEP Summer Institute is centered on empowering teachers to facilitate student-led climate action in their own communities. This involves learning about climate change, observing and discussing the impacts to their communities and choosing real projects working with community members to effect change. Here are some current student action projects.

The Upper Valley offers more support for educators interested in leading student-led Equitable Climate Action Projects (ECAP). This is a year-long PD that includes workshops, conferences, Right Here resource guide, one-on-one support from Community Members, and financial support. This program is funded by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's Wellborn Ecology Fund.

Sign-up for Katherine Hayhoe's newsletter. It is concise, gives updates on the good and bad news of climate change with many links for further research. It includes many things that people and municipalities can do to take climate action and offers hope to those with eco-anxiety.