How to Cope with the Effects of Climate Change on your Mental Health
Five tips to overcome eco-anxiety and turn it into action
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Climate change can be a terrifying thing to think about. It’s overwhelming, and sometimes it feels like there’s nothing we can do to stop it. So it’s natural that people sometimes try to distract themselves from these fears. But this may not be the best way to deal with them.
Distracting yourself can keep you from working through your feelings and dealing with them head-on. And if you’re using less-than-ideal coping strategies, like substance or alcohol use, that’s not good for you.
It’s essential to find healthy ways of dealing with climate change anxiety instead of avoiding it altogether. This might mean discussing your fears with others, researching what we can do to address climate change, or simply acknowledging how you’re feeling without trying to push those thoughts away. Ultimately, the key is finding and sticking with what works best for you.
Here are a few tips that might help:
1. Educate yourself about environmental issues.
The more you know, the more empowered you’ll feel to take action.
Educating yourself about environmental issues is the first step to taking action to help protect our planet. By learning about the different ways we can impact our environment, both positively and negatively, you can start making small changes in your own life that will add up to a big difference. You’ll also be better equipped to advocate for change on a larger scale.
There are many great podcasts, books, and documentaries out there on this topic — here are a few you can start with:
● “Blue Planet II” BBC documentary: This stunning documentary series explores the incredible underwater world we barely even knew existed. It features some truly shocking footage of humans’ damage to our oceans and will inspire you to help protect them.
● “This Changes Everything” podcast: In this podcast series hosted by Naomi Klein, she interviews activists and experts about climate change and how we can fight against it. She makes complex topics accessible for anyone to understand, and her passion for this issue is infectious!
● “The Uninhabitable…
