By Baljot Singh

Although the problem of climate anxiety can be tackled in multiple ways, having or building supportive communities is the most important strategy for addressing it. Recently, many studies and news articles are demonstrating young people’s eco-anxiety: sixty percent of people aged 16 to 25 are very anxious about climate change (Harvey qtd. in Hickman et al.); and 66% of people between the ages of 16-23 “have had a nightmare about climate change” (Grant). In her study, Beth Grant also uncovered the fact that young people consider community the second most important coping mechanism for eco-anxiety. Furthermore, I argue, having a supportive community will help young people understand their emotions with regard to climate change in a much better way, which, according to Dr. Renee Lertzman, will be helpful for people’s “mental wellbeing” as well as for removing “roadblocks to action.” Whereas, unsupportive communities are telling youth that their anxious feelings about climate change are unsound and require to be dealt with using meditation or other methods (Harvey), this, first of all, is wrong and can lead to further psychological problems or “psychopathologies” (Wu et al. e435). Furthermore, as Project InsideOut puts it, “[relationships,] conversations, and interactions are key drivers of any meaningful change” (“Be A Guide” 10) and supportive communities are ideal for cultivating all three. By being a part of a supportive community, people can not only share their worries, struggles, and anxieties, leading to massive cutdowns in their eco-anxiety levels, but also methods of improving climate change.

Works Cited

“Be A Guide: Our Guiding Principles.” Project InsideOut, 2020, https://projectinsideout.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Guiding-Principles-Primer.pdf. Accessed 14 February 2022.

Grant, Beth. “Eco-Anxious Photo Voices.” Eco-Anxiety, 8 July 2021, www.ecoanxious.ca/library/eco-anxious-photo-voices. Accessed 14 February 2022.

Harvey, Fiona. “Four in 10 Young People Fear Having Children Due to Climate Crisis.” The Guardian, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/14/four-in-10-young-people-fear-having-children-due-to-climate-crisis. Accessed 14 February 2022.

Lertzman, Renee. “About.” Project InsideOut, https://projectinsideout.net/about. Accessed 14 February 2022.

Wu, Judy, et al. “Climate Anxiety in Young People: A Call to Action.” The Lancet Planetary Health, vol. 4, no. 10, 2020, pp. e435–36, https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(20)30223-0. Accessed 14 February 2022.

This was work completed for ENGL 1100: Introduction to University Writing; the assignment required students to write an argumentative paragraph at a first-year level.