Abstract
Anxiety has become a defining feature of our time. This chapter investigates a rapidly spreading form of anxiety: eco-anxiety. The chapter begins with a working definition of eco-anxiety focused on three main features: future orientation and uncertainty; fear and insecurity; and paralysis and inaction. This definition also highlights that the distinguishing characteristic of eco-anxiety is its object: severe ecological risks and transcendental dangers. Although eco-anxiety is originally a lucid reaction to these real risks and dangers, and although it remains unclear whether or not eco-anxiety should be categorized as a mental health condition, the chapter then explains that eco-anxiety can be linked with three mental disorders: phobias; generalized anxiety disorder; and post-traumatic stress disorders. The chapter also stresses that three categories of people seem to be more vulnerable to eco-anxiety and its disorders: people directly exposed to ecological disasters; environmental scientists and the researchers and students who draw on their work; and especially children and young people. Finally, the chapter adopts the normative framework of ecological citizenship and a virtue ethics approach focused on mindfulness to propose a possible way to cope with eco-anxiety and its potentially pathological consequences. The objective is not only to better understand eco-anxiety and its effects, but also to find possible ways to live with it.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Politics and Theory |
Editors | Joel Kassiola, Timothy Like |
Place of Publication | Cham |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Pages | 65 |
Number of pages | 88 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-031-14346-5 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-3-031-14345-8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- Eco-anxiety
- Anxiety
- Ecological citizenship
- Citizenship
- mindfulness
- Mental health
- Climate change
- Biodiversity loss
- Planetary boundaries
- Risks
- Uncertainty