Eco-Anxiety Close to Home
The recent extreme rainfall for the past 6 weeks in Ireland, especially in Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin by Storm Chandra was 9 % greater than if the earth was cooler before exacerbated climate change. These type of weather events bring to mind future visions of extreme living conditions, that impact more livelihoods that we can respond to if governments do not take action now. However, it also brings to mind the reality of regions who are currently living under consistent and direct impacts of climate change and whether eco-anxiety is now considered a western/white phenomenon as we have the privilege to be concerned about potential future scenarios instead of living under their daily realities.
Defining Eco-Anxiety
This article is going to explore the term ‘Eco- anxiety’ also known as environmental anxiety or climate anxiety and look at its origin, applications, and whether it is an inclusive term. Eco anxiety among its many other terms, refers to someone who experiences heightened emotional, mental or physical distress in response to changes in the climate. It can present as feelings of fear, worry, distress, helplessness about the climate and it is understood as a natural reaction to witnessing the impacts of climate change, therefore it is not typically a mental health diagnosis. However, if these feelings start to interfere with your daily life, or functioning it is important to try seek professional help.
“Green capitalism, and market-based technocratic interventions, ideologies of net zero carbon instead of real carbon will not solve structural and systematic problems”
Whose Experiences Does Research Represent
The largest global study that has ever been conducted on eco-anxiety was collected on young people aged 16-25 in 10 countries, however while it is described as “global”, the majority of participating countries came from high-income nations. It showcased that 60 % of young people are very or extremely worried about environmental issues. From a social justice lens, on the extreme end of poverty realities, those with interlocking disadvantages are simply struggling to survive, and often face compounding intersectional inequalities that may lower their learning capacity about climate change and action (Butler, 2025). This highlights how social injustices and deeply entrenched systems of inequality precede climate anxiety or action and are deeply unfair.
Climate Colonialism and Unequal Impacts
The intertwined complexities and historic impacts of colonialism, climate debts, imperialism, capitalism, and international development deeply reveal how climate change dynamics and politics exist inside a deeply unequal system. Climate colonialism can be explained as the on-going euro-centric hegemony, and racial capitalism, that includes uneven consumption practices, and military dominations as co-constitutive of climate impacts which are majority experienced by racialised populations who are disproportionality vulnerable and made disposable (Sultana, 2022). Ironically, the global south has historically provided the resources that have developed the global north, yet their countries are often left unprepared and lack the capacity to address climate impacts with unequal negotiating power. The common euro-centric view of climate change and its governance, is just one perspective, yet it dominates narratives and is considered the most acceptable, whilst there has always been an on-going environmental and indigenous struggle in opposition that often goes under-acknowledged.
Eco-Anxiety and Well-Being
Kühner et al. (2025) meta analysis study highlighted that climate change anxiety can have a negative impact on well-being on the extreme end, but that it does have the potential to make a positive impact on climate action, depending on the level of anxiety. In contrast, those directly living under climate catastrophe are often often experiencing a range of mental health outcomes that stretch beyond eco anxiety including but not limited to PTSD, depression, and suicide, not simply eco-anxiety, which is not to take away from it, but it is to highlight that eco-anxiety is not universal nor applicable to all contexts. Despite eco-anxiety being a largely western and euro-centric term, it is still an indicator that people care about the future of climate change, which can be hopeful in itself to know you're not the only one who cares about this issue!
From Anxiety to Justice-Rooted Action
Eco-anxiety is most constructive when paired with critical climate justice awareness. Admitting that we don’t know much about those living under constant climate crisis impacts, removing our biased assumptions, stepping outside of euro-centric viewpoints, respecting cultural and indigenous knowledge, and learning about the unfair history of these dynamics may be a starting point. Further, reading journalists/scholars from climate vulnerable regions, supporting their local and community-led projects, and engaging with co-collaborative research and action projects that include as many voices as possible are possible actions that may help push for more democratic, and non-hierarchical practices. It is not easy to move beyond worrying about the future of climate change dynamics, especially when a lot of us have accessible exposure to online content at our fingertips, but perhaps putting down our phone and instead finding ways (small or large) to channel that anxiety into action with awareness of larger global contexts is a path worth taking.
Emma O’Toole is a recent graduate of Public Policy and Human Development from the United Nations University. Prior to this, she studied Sociology and Anthropology at Maynooth University. She has been an activist since the age of 18, following her own struggles with Ireland’s health system and the experience of seeking treatment abroad. More recently, she has been involved in local climate action, running a clothes swap project with Swords Tidy Towns. Emma is also a part-time yoga teacher.
