Are You Feeling Eco-Anxiety? You’re Not Alone.

I moved to the Jersey Shore in the summer of 2019. Despite the sunny weather, there was a cloud that seemed to pass through my daily conversations: Hurricane Sandy. No one was spared; everyone had their story to share. Sandy initiated a series of events that led my eco-spiritual nonprofit, Waterspirit, to lose the beachfront retreat center that it had called home for nearly 20 years. The lingering grief from that move was palpable every day in my new office. Additionally, my co-workers were still dealing with the costs of home repairs and other lingering impacts. As an environmental group, we cannot turn away from the knowledge that these kinds of events will only become more frequent as climate change increases. The tension and unease generated by that knowledge are feelings which we might call “eco-anxiety”.

Eco-anxiety is a phenomenon that is beginning to be recognized and named by psychologists. It is described by Psychology Today as a “psychological disorder afflicting an increasing number of individuals who worry about the environmental crisis.” Eco-anxiety has been particularly exacerbated in the United States as more people are directly impacted by climate change.

However, there is hope. Addressing these heavy feelings in community can be a way of generating the personal resilience needed to cope with an uncertain future. Alex Trope of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance asserted to The Daily Beast that, “It’s important to find someone who can hold it with you, not crack jokes or not recognize the crisis.” He added that person-to-person interaction could help counteract the “doom-and-gloom online coverage.”

Encouraging this kind of support and active hope in our communities is an important way to generate the resilience we will need to face the future together.

Waterspirit now offers an eco-anxiety support group using the Good Grief Network’s “10 Steps to Personal Resilience and Empowerment in a Chaotic Climate” method. Groups meet over the course of ten weeks to help build personal resilience and empowerment while strengthening community ties in order to combat despair, inaction, and eco-anxiety together. Our next group will begin meeting on January 31 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in the downstairs lounge at First Presbyterian Church of Rumson (4 East River Road). If you are interested in joining a group in the future or if you would like more information about how to bring a group to your community, please reach out to water@waterspirit.org.

Blair Nelsen is Executive Director of Waterspirit, a nonprofit center for spiritual ecology sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.