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Existential Dread

  • Existential dread is not new, but today it is amplified by globalized risks: climate disasters, mass extinctions, AI, pandemics, political instability, and societal collapse.[1]
  • A 2021 global survey of 10,000 young people aged 16–25 across 10 countries found 75% said the future is frightening, and over half question whether having children is ethical.[1]
  • "Solastalgia," emotional distress caused by environmental change, is a hidden toll of collapse.[2]
  • Research shows not all eco-emotions are equal: anger is the most adaptive response, linked to better mental health and more climate action.[3]
  • Anxiety and depression are less adaptive and often lead to disengagement.[3]
  • The goal is to move from grief and anxiety to anger, and from anger to collective action.

References

  1. Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
  2. Albrecht, G. (2007). Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change. Australasian Psychiatry, 15(S1), S95–S98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10398560701701288
  3. Stanley, S. K., Hogg, T. L., Leviston, Z., & Walker, I. (2021). From anger to action: Differential impacts of eco-anxiety, eco-depression, and eco-anger on climate action and wellbeing. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 1, 100003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100003

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