ECO-ANXIETY
“Insomnia? Stress? Anger? Climate change is already affecting us, and more and more of us are experiencing these symptoms because of it. It’s called eco-anxiety…this little-known mental illness…” —Earth Day Canada
“The American Psychology Association (APA) describes eco-anxiety as ‘the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm’ associated with the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concerns for the future. It is a relatively new topic of discussion, but it has become a source of constant or crippling anxiety for many — especially younger people.” — The Weather Channel
☀️ Climate Change’s Increasing Toll on Mental Health
Earth Day Canada’s 2022 campaign, “Remedy together” invites those who live with eco-anxiety, a mental health issue affecting Canadians concerned about the future of our planet, to call in sick on Earth Day, April 22.
🔥Climate Change’s Increasing Toll on Mental Health
“Climate change escalates mental health issues in two ways. The first is the direct impact of changes in climate on mental health. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, and drought are all highly traumatic events that cause death, disability, and impoverishment…
“The second way that the climate crisis increases the need for mental health services is by causing anxiety and pessimism in the general population, especially younger people.”
Continue reading via the American Journal of Managed Care.
🌪️ Climate Anxiety and Young People
Earth Day is also a natural opportunity to explore the connection between climate anxiety and mental health.
Continue Reading via the University of Texas Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
🌳 How to cope with eco-anxiety if you're worried about climate change
Check out these expert tips from a psychotherapist and sustainability expert.
Continue Reading via Hello Magazine.
🌻 Did you know hope can be measured?
Learn more about the robust science behind hope, one of the single best predictors of wellbeing across the lifespan, in this 2021 TEDx Oklahoma City talk by University of Oklahoma Professor Chan Hellman. Hellman is the Director of the Hope Research Center at the University of Oklahoma.
🚮 Earth Day 2022: As Eco-Anxiety Grips Our Society, Here Are 10 Lifestyle Hacks For a Better Future
“In a 2020 survey conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 57.3% of child and adolescent psychiatrists reported seeing patients distressed about environmental and ecological issues.”
Continue reading via the Weather Channel.
🙍🏽♀️ Activist gets candid about pollution fears: 'Climate anxiety is real, especially for a young Indigenous woman'
“The most recent oil spill in Alaska is weighing heavily on Ruth Miller. In late March, in her home of Alaska, a boat carrying fuel tanks ran aground in Neva Strait and leaked thousands of gallons of oil into the water…There are lots of days when I feel totally hopeless…”
Continue reading via Yahoo.
🐻❄️ This is how to deal with eco-anxiety this Earth Day
“If you find yourself lying awake pondering the state of the world or spending your commute to work musing on our looming ecological catastrophe, you’re far from alone.”
Continue reading via the Metro.
🐟 “If I Was Everything On Earth” by Oklahoma Native Son, Woody Guthrie (Excerpt)
If I was president Roosevelt
I'd make the groceries free
I'd give away new Stetson hats
And let the whiskey be.
I'd pass out suits of clothing
At least three times a week
And shoot the first big Oil Man
That killed the fishing creek.
Continue reading via Woody Guthrie.org.
Have a wonderful Earth Day! May your hopes spring eternal!