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<p><span style="">According to the&nbsp;</span>''<span style="">American Psychological Association</span>''<span style="">&nbsp;, eco-anxiety refers to the "</span>''<span style="">chronic fear of a doomed environment</span>''<span style="">&nbsp;."  <ref> https://centrere.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FICHE_SYNTHESE-ECOANXIETE___Flix_Lebrun-Par.pdf</ref> </span><span style=""></span></p>
<p><span style="">According to the </span>''<span style="">American Psychological Association, </span>''<span style="">eco-anxiety refers to the "</span>''<span style="">chronic fear of a doomed environment</span>''<span style="">&nbsp;."  <ref> https://centrere.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FICHE_SYNTHESE-ECOANXIETE___Flix_Lebrun-Par.pdf</ref> </span><span style=""></span></p>


<span style=""></span><p><span style="">This fear links to changes in the material conditions of existence, which is a phenomenon that has been known to several groups for a long time. </span><span style="">Their discourse, however, has largely been ignored by the Global North. </span><span style="">For a long time, inhabitants of several communities of the Global South, and Indigenous communities in the Global North, have seen their living conditions deteriorate in the face of destructive colonial and capitalist behaviour.</span></p><p><br><span style="">“''T''</span>''<span style="">he frightening future imagined by eco-anxious people are the historical realities of the Haida Nation and so many other Indigenous peoples</span>''<span style=""> ." -Joseph Weiss<span class="fn"></span> <ref> https://edgeeffects.net/who-gets-to-have-ecoanxiety</ref> </span></p>
<span style=""></span><p><span style="">This fear links to changes in the material conditions of existence, which is a phenomenon that has been known to several groups for a long time. </span><span style="">Their discourse, however, has largely been ignored by the Global North. </span><span style="">For a long time, inhabitants of several communities of the Global South, and Indigenous communities in the Global North, have seen their living conditions deteriorate in the face of destructive colonial and capitalist behaviour.</span></p>
<p><br><span style="">“''T''</span>''<span style="">he frightening future imagined by eco-anxious people are the historical realities of the Haida Nation and so many other Indigenous peoples</span>''<span style=""> ." -Joseph Weiss<span class="fn"></span> <ref> https://edgeeffects.net/who-gets-to-have-ecoanxiety</ref> </span></p>
<p><span style="">“</span>''<span style="">Individuals today are struggling to stay alive in the midst of war, conflict, pandemic, drought, famine.&nbsp;</span><span style="">No one cares about climate change [while there are emergencies in their immediate environment].</span>''<span style="">” -Ateeqa Riaz  <ref> https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/29/views-from-the-global-south-how-to-decolonise-the-climate-crisis</ref>  </span></p>


<p><span style="">“</span>''<span style="">Individuals today are struggling to stay alive in the midst of war, conflict, pandemic, drought, famine.&nbsp;</span><span style="">No one cares about climate change [while there are emergencies in their immediate environment].</span>''<span style="">” -Ateeqa Riaz <ref> https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/29/views-from-the-global-south-how-to-decolonise-the-climate-crisis</ref> </span></p>
<span style=""></span>


<span style=""></span><p><span style="">It is important to think about eco-anxiety in this social context:</span></p>
<span style=""></span>
*<span style="">Currently (and historically), several activities (deforestation, mining extraction, and various other forms of exploitation) by the Global North contribute directly to the destruction of the material conditions that support the existence of the Global South and Indigenous communities in the Global North.</span>
*<span style="">This is part of the broader context of climate crisis, the responsibility for which is largely attributable to practices of the Global North.</span>


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<span style="">Examples of Eco-anxiety</span>
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Adrienne Maree Brown  <ref>https://transformharm.org/the-fictions-and-futures-of-transformative-justice/#:~:text=adrienne%20maree%20brown.,think%20that%20can%20be%20tricky.</ref>
The Global North
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''"I tend to think of abolition as one result of transformative justice: abolition is the end of prisons; transformative justice is the methods people use to uproot injustice patterns in communities. I tend to think of abolition as a totality, and I think that can be tricky. People set out to abolish slavery and we ended up with the prison industrial complex because while there were surface and policy level shifts, the culture did not shift. That deep underlying racism and classism remains and is now roaring to the surface as we write this. So, while I identify as an abolitionist, I find speaking about the iterative tangible work of transformative justice makes more sense to me now–I don’t simply want the prisons gone, I want a radically different way of interacting with each other to grow."''
Those who are not experiencing the more direct and intensive effects of the climate crisis may experience anxiety related to what will happen when the effects more directly reach them, or anxiety related to the disaster being faced by frontline communities.&nbsp;
|- style="height: 23px;"
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Mia Mingus  <ref>https://transformharm.org/the-fictions-and-futures-of-transformative-justice/#:~:text=adrienne%20maree%20brown.,think%20that%20can%20be%20tricky.</ref>
The Global South and frontline communities
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''"I understand abolition to be a necessary part of transformative justice because prisons, and the PIC, are major sites of individual and collective violence, abuse, and trauma. However, transformative justice is and must also be a critical part of abolition work because we will need to build alternatives to how we respond to harm, violence, and abuse. Just because we shut down prisons, does not mean that these will stop. Transformative justice has roots in abolition work and is an abolitionist framework, but goes beyond abolishing prisons (and slavery) and asks us to end–and transform the conditions that perpetuate–generational cycles of violence such as rape, sexual assault, child abuse, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, intimate partner abuse, war, genocide, poverty, human trafficking, police brutality, murder, stalking, sexual harassment, all systems of oppression, dangerous societal norms, and trauma."''
Unsurprisingly, those experiencing the direct impacts of the climate crisis experience more worry and greater impact on functioning in their daily lives.
|-
 
| style="width: 19.6976%; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | Amanda Aguilar Shank  <ref>https://brownstargirl.org/beyond-survival/</ref>  
The Philippines, for example, is on of the most directly affected countries by climate change. A global survey revealed that the Philippines has the greatest number of young people experiencing high levels of climate anxiety and negative emotions (e.g., anger, hopelessness, frustration, etc.) associated with the climate crisis.  <ref></ref><div class="contribution">C.&nbsp;Hickman,&nbsp;E.&nbsp;Marks,&nbsp;P.&nbsp;Pihkala,&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Clayton,&nbsp;R.E.&nbsp;Lewandowski,&nbsp;E.E.&nbsp;Mayall,&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Wray,&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Mellor,&nbsp;L.&nbsp;van Susteren
| style="width: 80.3024%;" | Interpersonal harm is inevitable. Abolition imagines that ''"each moment where harm happens is an opportunity to transform relationships and communities, build trust and safety, and grow slowly toward the beautiful people we are meant to be, in the world we deserve."&nbsp;''<br>
<div id="ref-id-sbref0002"><strong class="title">Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey</strong></div></div>
<div class="host">Lancet Planet Health,&nbsp;5&nbsp;(12)&nbsp;(2021),&nbsp;[https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3]</div>  
|}
|}


<p><span>It is important to think about eco-anxiety in this social context:</span></p>
*<span>Currently (and historically), several activities (deforestation, mining extraction, and various other forms of exploitation) by the Global North contribute directly to the destruction of the material conditions that support the existence of the Global South and Indigenous communities in the Global North.</span>
*<span>This is part of the broader context of climate crisis, the responsibility for which is largely attributable to practices of the Global North.</span>
<br>


<br></p>
If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.
If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.
<br></p>
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<div style="text-align:center;">This work is licensed under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License]. </div>
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Revision as of 15:59, 11 November 2022

According to the American Psychological Association, eco-anxiety refers to the "chronic fear of a doomed environment ." [1]

This fear links to changes in the material conditions of existence, which is a phenomenon that has been known to several groups for a long time. Their discourse, however, has largely been ignored by the Global North. For a long time, inhabitants of several communities of the Global South, and Indigenous communities in the Global North, have seen their living conditions deteriorate in the face of destructive colonial and capitalist behaviour.


“The frightening future imagined by eco-anxious people are the historical realities of the Haida Nation and so many other Indigenous peoples ." -Joseph Weiss [2]

“Individuals today are struggling to stay alive in the midst of war, conflict, pandemic, drought, famine. No one cares about climate change [while there are emergencies in their immediate environment].” -Ateeqa Riaz [3]

Examples of Eco-anxiety

The Global North

Those who are not experiencing the more direct and intensive effects of the climate crisis may experience anxiety related to what will happen when the effects more directly reach them, or anxiety related to the disaster being faced by frontline communities. 

The Global South and frontline communities

Unsurprisingly, those experiencing the direct impacts of the climate crisis experience more worry and greater impact on functioning in their daily lives.

The Philippines, for example, is on of the most directly affected countries by climate change. A global survey revealed that the Philippines has the greatest number of young people experiencing high levels of climate anxiety and negative emotions (e.g., anger, hopelessness, frustration, etc.) associated with the climate crisis. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content
C. Hickman, E. Marks, P. Pihkala, S. Clayton, R.E. Lewandowski, E.E. Mayall, B. Wray, C. Mellor, L. van Susteren
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey
Lancet Planet Health, 5 (12) (2021), 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3

It is important to think about eco-anxiety in this social context:

  • Currently (and historically), several activities (deforestation, mining extraction, and various other forms of exploitation) by the Global North contribute directly to the destruction of the material conditions that support the existence of the Global South and Indigenous communities in the Global North.
  • This is part of the broader context of climate crisis, the responsibility for which is largely attributable to practices of the Global North.



If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


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  1. ↑ https://centrere.uqam.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FICHE_SYNTHESE-ECOANXIETE___Flix_Lebrun-Par.pdf
  2. ↑ https://edgeeffects.net/who-gets-to-have-ecoanxiety
  3. ↑ https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/29/views-from-the-global-south-how-to-decolonise-the-climate-crisis
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