Eco-Anxiety: The Opportunities for Positive Change

This is part 3 of a 3 part series. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Eco-anxiety is not all negative; it actually has the potential to drive change as people reflect and reassess their habits/behaviors and seek out ways to participate in positive climate action. However, as climate change is a complex, systemic issue, the anxiety felt around it can easily become overwhelming and result in an unsustainable motivation for climate action.

In this final article on the topic, I will be exploring the actions that individuals, communities, educators, workplaces, and governments can take to turn this often unspoken, negative experience into a proactive and more effective relationship with the emotions felt by those experiencing climate and eco-anxiety. This article also coincides with the release of our new free toolkit created by Charlotte Adams, who has been researching this topic for us over the last few months.

Download the Free Eco-Anxiety Toolkit Now

Choose from 2 different free download options:

1. Full Toolkit as PDF Book: Download the full free toolkit in its entirety here >
2. Sectioned Toolkit via Email: Sign up for a more digestible version of the Toolkit in 6 sections, delivered weekly by email >

From my experience, when I first encountered the complexity of human-nature destruction, it distressed me so much that it drove me to find ways of alleviating existentialism through reading, researching, and then taking action. I was a young design student, and the weight of responsibility to not contribute to furthering the problems that my industry created became a driving force that would shape the rest of my career. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t also experience many of the symptoms of eco-anxiety; the known current and future impacts of climate change have dominated many of my life choices. I work very hard to foster a perspective of the future that is positive and drives me to contribute to creating it, and over the last few years, I’ve made it part of my daily practice to spend time in nature however I can. I notice a significant difference in my general mental health and wellbeing when I don’t do this, so I work to engineer my life to enable this to happen! We are all unique individual beings, but the one thing we know to be universal is that we all need nature. We are deeply interconnected and interdependent with nature — the more we engage with its beauty and possibility, the more likely we are to open up the creativity needed to help us rectify the problems that caused so much of the fear and anxiety in the first place.

A Nuanced Emphasis on Action

Whilst we acknowledge that the research on climate and eco-anxiety is both presently limited and ever evolving, we know that taking action is part of the antidote to the sense of powerlessness that is at the root of many negative eco emotions.

As mentioned in Part 2 of this series, contextual aspects such as an individual’s location and socioeconomic status directly affect their ability to access appropriate support; similarly, sometimes anxiety and powerlessness can cause people to become overwhelmed with avoidance. I know that my ability to access nature is something that other people may not be able to do based on where they live. Historically, access to undisrupted nature has been a privilege.

This is why it’s so critical to not dismiss the lived experiences of others and to spark open dialogue within our individual spheres of influence. There’s only one way to start finding solutions to mitigate climate and eco-anxiety — and that’s simply to start.

What are the Positive Links?

The positive association between eco-anxiety and pro-environmental behavior is considered to be conditional. People with high levels of eco-anxiety display significantly fewer pro-environmental behaviors, and excessive eco-anxiety can result in eco-paralysis. Just like general anxiety disorder, anxiety can create a sense of paralysis. As such, those who experience it must take time to process and develop coping strategies instead of moving too quickly into action, allowing the body and mind to recalibrate and return to a state of homeostasis. Further research is essential to determine the threshold for constructive eco-anxiety and the trigger conditions. Being kind to yourself and acknowledging the emotions you feel are real and valid is a critical starting point for any mental health journey.

It’s important to acknowledge that the experiences of eco-anxiety, like all emotions, are incredibly personal and can be very powerful. The tools provided in this toolkit are based on comprehensive research and are general in their approach. We encourage you to find the best strategies for you and seek professional help from your local mental health support service or a qualified health professional if required. The advice is not to be mistaken for medical advice and is intended for educational purposes only.

5 key areas of action

As part of the free toolkit, we have created on proactively addressing eco-anxiety, we combed through the most recent research and science on the topic and developed a set of actions across 5 main areas:

1. Individual Actions
2. Community Actions
3. Workplace Actions
4. Education Actions
5. Public Policy Actions

Below is a summary of actions for each of these areas; be sure to grab the free toolkit from the UnSchools site to explore the full set of actions and the statistics on each topic area. Here we have included a snapshot list of each one.

Individual Actions

Individuals struggling with eco-anxiety benefit from holistic treatments that address and seek to balance inner experiences by connecting to others in the community and with nature. Here are three actions to help achieve this:

1. Take care of yourself: Foster healthy routines to support your mental health, such as exercising, preparing and eating healthy meals, getting sufficient sleep, spending time in nature, taking breaks and seeking professional help if required.
2. Limit media time: Find a personal balance between being informed and constantly absorbing information. This could include curating your social media feed and setting time boundaries for when you research or read climate-related news/reports.
3. Take action: This can start with individual actions (see the Anatomy of Action), personal learning (see UnSchool of Disruptive Design) and advocating in your immediate community (family, friends), local environment and workplace. You can join a local climate cafe or volunteer for a community group that is focused on restoring your local nature areas. Take action that is within your sphere of influence and that is agency-building for you. All actions matter!

Community Actions

Social and relational strategies can foster a sense of belonging, help us take responsibility for what actions we have the capacity to take, and turn anxiety into agency. Here are three actions for engaging with your community:

1. Join online communities: Communities such as Force of Nature and organizations like the Good Grief network and Active Hope offer workshops, programs, resources and events to support those navigating eco-anxiety and provide the opportunity to connect with people in a similar position. There will certnently be a local climate group you could join so look them up and see what is available to you.
2. Get involved with in-person and local community action: The amount of change required in response to climate change can be stressful and overwhelming. Focusing on projects in your local community can help mitigate the stress and help maintain long-term momentum by allowing you to see the direct impact of your actions and develop relationships with those in your immediate community. All actions matter, as the more we do, no matter how small it is, the more we contribute to a momentum of change.
3. Share how you feel with trusted individuals or those in a community support group: Problem-solving actions should be balanced with the sharing of emotions. We recognise that we are not alone by sharing concerns and thoughts and connecting and socializing with those who share our values. Seek out or create community groups for emotional support, but be mindful of who and how you share so that the conversations are constructive and regenerative.

Workplace Actions

Eco-anxiety can result in work demotivation, loss of focus and decreased productivity. Here are three actions that leadership and managers can take to address eco-anxiety in the workplace:

1. Raise awareness and create support networks in workplaces: Leadership should first explore how prevalent eco-anxiety is in their organization by surveying or talking to different team members. Then, raise awareness about the experience and equip managers to have constructive and caring conversations about eco-anxiety with employees. Create safe spaces for the discussion of eco-anxiety, ensuring employees are equipped with strategies and groups to explore and validate these feelings.
2. Work outdoors: Research shows that spending at least 2 hours in nature a week is consistently related to higher levels of health and wellbeing. Encourage employees to schedule in time to work outdoors or take walking meetings. Facilitate nature-based team-building activities or redesign offices to be biophilic (including nature within them).
3. Create opportunities for collective action: Leadership should provide staff with ways they can get involved in climate action initiatives; this could be through sharing resources or hosting workshops and talks. Offer paid time to volunteer on environmental projects in local communities and up-skill staff in how they can contribute to climate actions within the company. Help staff build supportive networks and feel empowered to make a direct difference. Leadership teams should lead by example to ensure this doesn’t feel tokenistic and that the company is taking significant action to address its climate impacts.

Education Actions

Environmental and general educators are at the forefront of influencing students’ mindsets, witnessing their emotional responses and fostering their resilience and hope. Three actions to assist educators and students with navigating eco-anxiety include:

1. Provide support for educators: Educators need help navigating their own eco-emotions and the opportunity to receive psychological assistance so that they are able to validate, respect, support and empathize with students’ feelings as role models.
2. Take an action-oriented educational approach: Discussions about climate change should be balanced with instilling a sense of agency and sharing actions students can take to address the issues.
3. Integrate embodied activities and methods into environmental education: Place-based education, outdoor and adventure pedagogy, relations with non-humans, pedagogies of interconnectedness and art-based methods can enhance nature connection and allow students to explore their emotions through their body-minds.

Public Policy Actions

Climate policies are essential for addressing the full spectrum of mental health concerns that are likely to become more pressing as the effects of climate change are felt more widely and severely. Three actions for policymakers are:

1. Leverage the co-benefits of integrating climate mitigation action with mental health support: For example, encouraging active transport (walking or cycling) has benefits for the environment, physical health and mental health.
2. Activate community-based approaches that support individual and collective mental health and wellbeing: Use co-design strategies to involve communities in the design of systems and services as well as engage them in climate action.
3. Tackle the gaps in funding for both mental health and the health impacts of climate change: Recognize the co-benefits that investing in climate adaptation and mitigation can have on mental health. Dedicate funding to research that will assist in understanding and quantifying the intangible costs of climate change on mental health.

There are loads more actions in our new toolkit! The Eco-Anxiety Action-Oriented Toolkit is 100% free and available to download now. We created this to explore the issues and turn them into positive actions.

If you haven’t gotten the toolkit yet, choose from these 2 free options:

• Download the Full Toolkit as PDF Book: Download the full free toolkit in its entirety here >
• Get the Sectioned Toolkti via Email: Sign up for a more digestible version of the Toolkit in 6 sections, delivered weekly by email >

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Eco-Anxiety survey. Your participation helped us gain a deeper understanding of how climate change and eco-anxiety are impacting people worldwide. The results are included in the toolkit.

A special thank you to Charlotte Adams for the research, writing and design contributions in this article and the great toolkit she has created. Charlotte is an impact-driven, multi-disciplinary designer who has interned with us this year. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Instagram and check out her website to see more of her work.

Looking for more? Take an UnSchool class, download our free Superpower Activation Toolkit or check out the everyday actions you can take through our collaboration with the UN, the Anatomy of Action.Image of a 2 page spread of infographics showing the results of the survey conducted for the toolkitImage of a 2 page spread of graphics depicting the research on how eco-anxiety affects communities of people.