Sep 16, 20193 min
Mental Health and Mindfulness Writer: Ellie Chivers Talks About The Affect Climate Change Can Have On Our Mental Health
Photo by Dawid Zawiła
Ever heard of the term solostalgia? Well, if the answer is no – you’re not the only one. Let me ex-plain: the term, coined by Australian philosopher Glen Albrecht in 2003, is used to describe “the feeling of distress associated with environmental change close to home.” And while you may have never heard of the sensation before, solostalgia has become increasingly widespread since con-cern for our environment and our planet has skyrocketed.
The climate crisis has put many new things into perspective, and has many people worrying about what the future holds – and rightly so. Angela Lertkiratikul wrote a devastatingly insightful piece on Odyessy, addressing something that I know I had felt for quite a while: “I do not want to bring a child into a world where Florida will most likely end up underwater once the majority of the ice sheets have melted. I do not want my child to grow up not experiencing fresh foods (or possibly starvation) due to the temperatures rising to the point where agriculture will no longer grow and food resources will be scarce. I do not want my child to live in a world where almost all living things -plants, animals, and especially, us- are dead.”
While – like Angela – I know it’s a long way off before I’d even consider having children, I think her article sums up an underlying fear – an underlying solostalgia – even young people are experienc-ing. The earth has already changed and deteriorated so much since we were born, and it’s clear that isn’t stopping anytime soon; Angela writes in her article that the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration has posed that climate change is an
“existential threat to human civilisation that could cause society to collapse by 2050 if we do not take the necessary actions to reverse this process.”
It’s hard to imagine being responsible for other lives when we are directly linked to col-lapse of a whole planet. The fact that people are concerning themselves with their future lives and considering what action to take when contemplating events so far away is just a small reflection of how deeply the environmental crisis is affecting so many.
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Having said that, the effects of the climate crisis are already alarmingly visible. In Greenland, it is already having a detrimental impact on islanders’ day-to-day lives. 76% of those asked in a survey measuring the human impact of the climate emergency on the island said they have “personally experienced global heating in their daily lives.” The term “ecological grief” has been used to de-scribe the PTSD sensation sweeping over those in fear of the weakening of our planet – and it’s very clear that the people of Greenland, and in fact across the world, are longing for a time when they could shop, eat, and live without fear they are putting their future on the line.
Which brings us back around to the idea of solostalgia. I, too, in a strange way, miss those care-free days of picking up hundreds of cheap clothes and taking it all home in a plastic bag, blissfully ignorant to the toll that was taking on our planet. It’s a shame now that we do have to take so many drastic measures, and that still, so many people aren’t recognising the significance of the climate crisis.
I worry that some people will never learn, I worry that I will never be able to have a family in such a volatile environment, and I worry that I’m going to see our beautiful Earth melt away before my very eyes. So yes, the climate crisis does have gigantic impact on people’s mental health. The only thing we can do? Save the planet.
#climatecrisis #solostalgia # mentalhealth | Tru 🌱