From the course: 34 Things to Know about Carbon and Climate

What is eco-anxiety and what can you do about it?

From the course: 34 Things to Know about Carbon and Climate

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What is eco-anxiety and what can you do about it?

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- 70% of all adults and 85% of all kids experience some form of eco-anxiety. What is eco-anxiety? And since almost all of us have it, what can one do about it? - One of the things we discovered as we were working on "The Carbon Almanac" is that reminding people it's not too late is really important, that believing that it's all over and there's nothing we can do about it, and that we're going to have to settle for less as we go, it's not an easy thing to sell, and it's not an easy way to live. And eco-anxiety is on the rise. It's anxiety because it's a conflict of two things, wanting to live a good life and realizing that it's getting harder to do so. It's a conflict that's caused by not knowing enough. It's a conflict that's caused by feeling powerless. And one of the lessons of "The Carbon Almanac" is simple. Not only will you make a difference when you coordinate and lead community action, systemic change, you will feel better, as well. All of the people who worked on this almanac kept reporting, including me, that it gave us hope, that we were doing something. And you can do something, as well, that you have the chance, the voice to bring leverage to the table to change the systems where you work. Not little ones like how do we make sure that the stickers on the yogurt containers are recyclable, but big ones, big systemic changes in what you make, how you make it, how you bring it to the world. Because as the systems change, the culture will change. It will become normal, and things will get better. And when we lean into it, when we acknowledge that we feel this way and lean into it, we have a chance to make things better, and feel better about it, as well.

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