Climate change is an existential threat — its rampant destructive effects pervade the continental United States in ways that can no longer be ignored. As highlighted by the World Economic Forum, Newman and Noy (2023) estimated that climate change is costing the world $16 million per hour, with extreme weather events, habitat loss, pollution, and other anthropogenic activity having devastating ramifications for all of the world’s inhabitants, human and otherwise. It goes without saying that greenhouse gas emission-amplified hurricane and fire survivors suffer huge amounts of trauma; we bystanders likewise experience the horror of the pain of our fellow human beings — some of us, the pain of intricately-linked plants, animals, and more-than-human natural systems which will never be the same.
Obviously, this hurts. Often, these negative feelings of fear, anger, trauma, sorrow, or uncertainty can be too much for one person to take; somehow, people need to cope with these emotions, which can result in a fractal array of possibilities. Ecopsychological perspectives help to delve into the human psyche in the face of gargantuan collective threats — such as that of global climate change. Roszak (1995) explains that a central premise of ecopsychology is that the underlying structure of the mind, while shaped by a modern world, was created in a natural environment.
When the agonizing dread and impending doom feel too daunting to deal with, human beings have defense mechanisms to protect their minds from catastrophic feelings. Knee-jerk reactions, such as detachment, that develop into mental frameworks (i.e. “it doesn’t affect me, I can’t be bothered”) are quick-fix ways for people to avoid climate doomism and existentialism. However, the adverse impacts of these coping mechanisms pose serious threats to the climate action that we need. Identifying those mechanisms, thus becomes critical to undoing emotional gridlock to make room for capacity for change. Grappling with complex and painful emotions as a result of injustices much larger than ourselves incapacitates and sabotages us, causing us to shut down — contributing to broader inaction. Common examples of such mechanisms in response to climate change are as follows:
- Eco-anxiety is the chronic fear of environmental doom, according to the American Psychological Association (Clayton et al., 2017). Marked by mental distress and anxiety as a result of worsening environmental conditions, eco-anxiety is increasingly affecting people globally; TIME reports Google searches worldwide related to “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety” increased by 4,590% from 2018 to 2023 (Moench, 2023). Widespread fears of collapsing infrastructure and ecosystems, as well as fewer safe places to live, can result in loss of social identity and cohesion, as well as increases in hostility, violence, and interpersonal and intergroup aggression (Shalant, 2024).
- Detachment is the most common response to the fear and anger of distressing current events, involving a complete severance from the trigger. The detached prefer to focus on their day-to-day, often utilizing compartmentalization, also known as split-mindedness, double-mindedness, or what leading psychoanalyst Sally Weintrobe calls Paranoid-schizoid. This uses the narcissistic part of self to pretend not to notice what is happening in the world while splitting off into another mind operating within the little bubble of day-to-day life. In these ways, one can avoid negative feelings entirely.
- Disavowal is like a defense against the too-much-ness of reality where the individual attempts to “de-problematize” the threat; climate change is more accepted, but the significance of our destructiveness is minimized. Relying on a delusional state of inner tranquility, this can become entrenched, while unconsciously building up more underlying anxiety that requires further entrenchment into disavowal, thus creating a feedback loop.
- Negation can be understood as just flat-out saying something is not, especially while looking to the past. This is the first stage of mourning and a defense against anxiety and loss. Denial is the refusal to acknowledge an unacceptable truth or emotion or to admit it into consciousness. If you’ve heard: “climate change isn’t real”, “it’s a hoax”, “scientists still haven’t proven its existence”, “the Earth has always changed temperatures so this is natural”, etc., these are modes of denying the facts, which allows one to restrict exposure to upsetting news. Viewing distressing information through a cloud of doubt helps to reduce anxiety and fear, so the Denier creates a false sense of security, and in this preservation of the status quo, any climate solution that may jeopardize that, entrenches their denial.
- Apathy can be summarized by the statement: “If I don’t care, I won’t feel bad.” Many times, this occurs when humans are unable to see how this affects them, and are ignorant of other impacts. The absence and suppression of feelings are used to ignore the negative feelings, and go hand-in-hand with nihilism; many young people feel hopeless that it’s too late and nothing they do will help. But it also serves to compound pent-up emotions that can only worsen if not adequately discussed and dealt with.
Overall, the above responses to climate change and their reverberating impacts ostensibly protect individuals from mental anguish, yet they delay the inevitable, consequentially imposing the opposite effect on all other climate-change stakeholders. In the effort to develop and advance technologically, humans have reaped the earth for raw materials and resources — while creating some of the most complexly intelligent and staggeringly effective processes and tools. However, in the process, we have built ourselves so far from the earth that we forget our dependence on it. The further detached humanity becomes from our environmental impact, the more infeasible it becomes to hold important conversations, take collective action, and create any change in the current global human condition.
Instead, the cooling of the planet’s atmosphere is now inherently tied to a state of caring. One of psychotherapy’s most powerful tools is that of internal analysis, caring for yourself; if any of these reactions are familiar, it might be time to ask yourself the hard questions. Engaging with these feelings individually, setting aside mental space to just reflect on, question the origins, and accept your emotions, will prepare you for discussing them with others. Another major pillar of ecopsychology is utilizing nature in treatment: finding healthy coping mechanisms that work for you — and the environment — such as walking near the Charles or in nature, journaling, getting in tune with your body, cooking organic plant-based food, or listening to white noise animal sounds. While there is no one-size-fits-all, these are all some of the ways I like to cope with my climate anxiety. Resilient climate activists need to take care of themselves in tandem with their activities, having reflective conversations and some dependable coping mechanisms are key to reducing stress and burnout. Climate change is a marathon, so must be our response.
When one builds personal resilience and agency, one can then be encouraged to find collective ways of processing climate-related emotional experiences, promoting collective health and well-being. Against the backdrop of political and capitalist systems that prioritize current earnings over the needs of future generations, the radical shift in thinking and acting with mutual respect and compassion for our fellow beings has never been more important. Many eco-psychological thinkers trace our rapid exploitation of resources to philosophies of earthly dominion and protection of individual rights, the notion that Earth was created for humans to use — or even that we are entitled to plots of the Earth to manipulate as we see fit while excluding all others (Smidt, 2024; Lakitsch, 2021). Yet, acknowledging our origins begins with respecting the ecosystems we arose from; we needed every ray of sun, drop of rain, breeze of air, mineral, and metal, to unfurl from our embryonic single-celledness into society. Every bug, bird, lizard, mammal, tree, and being consists of the same elements, inherently depending on the same resources and area as us.
This is why our decision-making process on how to stay alive and accumulate wealth for material well-being is interwoven with everything else. The interconnectedness between the human sphere and the natural world means that our survival hinges on the survival of all the others. Taking care of “the environment” entails caring for the forests and beaches we were born from and the animals and plants that live there, yes, but it also ties into the diaspora of diverse human beings. It means caring for the person without a home looking for a quick reprieve to get back on their feet and the person in Bangladesh working grueling hours to sew your new shirt. Caring for the ant on the windowsill hunting for a crumb and that plot of soil where everyone throws their trash. When we use our caring, we counteract the hyper-individualistic attitudes we were socialized to celebrate — and no matter what gender, creed, race, religion, class, etc. we all arrived from the Earth, and we will all ultimately return to it.
As the generation with the most advanced society thus far, with a plethora of resources and eons of historical knowledge at our disposal, we have the potential, awareness, and passion to enact mass movements toward a reversal of the destruction that came before us — and continues today. While we envision what living joyfully and justly in this new world looks like, holding safe and honest discourse can collectively help process climate grief. Studies show that only 36% of Americans discuss climate change “at least occasionally” (Marlon et al., 2025). Research shows that just having conversations about climate change can increase acceptance of climate science among families and friends (Goldberg et al., 2019). It is when we turn towards each other and to each other that we can create change: caring about the world requires kinship and empathy, skills that need practice before the synapse connections break down in our brains. The time is now to begin examining our vulnerabilities and opening up to each other, allowing us to open ourselves to new, solution-oriented conversations. While we were certainly dealt a deck of nihilistic cards, caring just a bit more about the people, places, and things around us can propel us toward decarbonization, allocation of resources, and sustainability. Our actions at this moment are revolutionary, let’s choose to care.
Sources:
Clayton, S., Manning, C., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017, March). Mental health and our changing climate. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/mental-health-climate-change.pdf
Goldberg, M. H., van der Linden, S., Maibach, E., & Leiserowitz, A. (2019). Discussing global warming leads to greater acceptance of climate science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(30), 14804–14805. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906589116
Lakitsch, M. (2021). Hobbes in the anthropocene: Reconsidering the State of Nature in its relevance for governing. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 46(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/03043754211008677
Marlon, J., Goddard, E., Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., & Jefferson, M. (2025, March 20). Yale climate opinion maps 2024. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us/
Moench, M. (2023, November 22). Climate change new: Anxiety soars as conditions worsen. Time. https://time.com/6338759/climate-change-anxiety-google-search-trend/
Newman, R., & Noy, I. (2023). The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41888-1
Roszak, T. (1995). A new therapy. BioScience, 45(1), 3–3. https://doi.org/10.2307/1312526
Shalant, J. (2024, June 25). It’s time to talk about climate anxiety. National Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/its-time-talk-about-climate-anxiety Smidt, C. E. (2024). Dominion, stewardship, and perceptions of the problem of climate change. Review of Religious Research, 66(4), 437–461. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673×241254556