Ecological grief
Ecological grief, or in particular climate grief, refers to the sense of loss that arises from experiencing or learning about environmental destruction or climate change. For example, scientists witnessing the decline of Australia's Great Barrier Reef report experiences of anxiety, hopelessness, and despair. Groups impacted heavily also include young people feeling betrayal from lack of environmental action by governments and indigenous communities losing their livelihoods.
Environmental disruption, such as the loss of biodiversity, or even the loss of inanimate environmental features like sea ice, cultural landscapes, or historic heritage can also cause negative psychological responses, such as ecological grief or solastalgia.
Background and characteristics
Usage of "ecological grief" dates back to at least 1940, where Aldo Leopold used the term to refer to the pain of environmental loss. In A Sand County Almanac, Leopold wrote that "One of the penalties of an ecological education is to live alone in a world of wounds". The phenomena of ecological grief became more widespread in the 21st century along with the worsening climate crisis.In 2018, Cunsolo and Ellis wrote that "grief is a natural and legitimate response to ecological loss, and one that may become more common as climate impacts worsen."
Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined the term solastalgia, publishing the first academic paper on the idea in 2005. The term is derived from word root solacium and the suffix -algia, suggesting a loss of comfort, and akin to the terms climate grief, ecological grief, and environmental melancholia. A 2022 article in The Atlantic described solastalgia as a response to "losing your home while staying in one place". The article said the word "seemed to tap into a kind of angst about life on a warming planet", the word inspiring an instrumental music track in the U.K., an album in Slovenia, and a porcelain representation.
A survey was conducted to measure the eco-guilt, anxiety and grief on mental health and its effect on the likeliness of pro-environmental behavior based on sociodemographic characteristics. Participants were asked a series of pro-environmental questions and asked to rate on a 5 point scale - 1 being almost never and 5 being always/almost always. The results indicated that women had higher overall score in each parameter of the study. Individuals living in rural areas displayed a greater sense of ecological grief compared to those living in suburban areas, which were allotted to the idea that those individuals experienced higher levels of first-hand loss.
Climate communicators may focus initially on communicating climate impacts and adaptation rather than the aspects of grief. Communicators such as the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication have often addressed the question of grief by stressing the importance of describing solutions. Attempting to channel climate anxiety into action for solutions is consistent with the approach described by Sherman H. Dryer, Director of Radio Productions at The University of Chicago, in his manual for World War II propaganda, in which radio communications about the war always end with a message on how the listener can support the war effort.
However, it is not clear that encouragement to channel anxiety and despair into action is an adequate response for people who have experienced concrete personal losses, such as Greenlanders who have had to euthanize sled dogs. Cunsolo, an ecologist active in Nunatsiavut, in Canada's Far North, described grappling with this question in an article titled, "To Grieve or Not to Grieve?".
Some discussions in the media have focused on the question of whether presenting the negative aspects of climate change is making people despair and give up. A 2016 Scientific American article posed the question, "Is a traumatic sense of loss freezing action against climate change?" In 2019, journalist Mike Pearl asserted that "people are suffering from what could be called 'climate despair', a sense that climate change is an unstoppable force that will render humanity extinct and renders life in the meantime futile." More recently, research has indicated that emotional responses to crisis and disaster are inherently adaptive, and with appropriate support in reflecting on and processing the experiences, these emotions can lead to resilience.
Climate change's impact on mental health can range from acute to chronic forms of distress. Common feelings were listed as a sense of powerlessness, despair, and grief. Three main have been attributed to ecological grief. 1) Past physical losses like firsthand extreme weather events, species extinction and habitat loss. 2) From the disruption of ones own cultural identity in relation to their surrounding environment. 3) The anticipation of future loss and climate anxiety.
Symptoms
Some symptoms of ecological grief are not limited to but can include eco-anxiety, eco-guilt, and eco-paralysis. Research related to solastalgia is being recorded on an environmental distress scale by accessing grief that is associated with environmental loss and anxiety tied to anticipation of future losses.Eco-anxiety
A 2020 survey by the American Psychological Association found that more than two-thirds of American adults said they had experienced "eco-anxiety". Habitual eco-anxiety is related to a strong emotional response to the environmental uncertainties of the future as well as related to the anger felt in response to others behavior towards the environment. A study was conducted measuring the coping mechanisms used in relation to class of eco-anxiety induced by ecological grief. A small sample size of 17 people living in central Europe who were considered to have increased sensitive values related to climate change were included. Individuals were selected based on their professions, studies, passions or effects from climate change they've had first-hand experience with. The results classified 6 classes of eco-anxiety including worry, empathy, conflicts related to frustration and anger, disturbance, mental health, and helplessness. Although this particular study targeted individuals interested in climate change effects, the majority of coping mechanisms were problem focused and were most adaptive in leading into social support. The emerging model of climate grief suggests that people may process climate despair, or climate anxiety, through the stages of grief, and that forming social support networks is a part of this process. Eco paralysis is an emotional response triggered by the shock of environmental events and the inability to give a physical response due to an overwhelming feeling of conflict. The negative consequences of eco-anxiety are the physical, emotional and behavioral responses that are not meaningfully beneficial regarding climate change.Eco-guilt
Ecological guilt stems from the self-consciousness one's own actions are creating the problem. Collective guilt is viewed as the negative emotion people experience within their social ingroups as a whole. A manipulative study was conducted evaluating how the perceptions of global warming would influence feelings of collective guilt and likelihood of mitigating pro-environmental behaviors as a result. Through the experience of collective guilt it was hypothesized that it can help mitigate behaviors towards pro-environmental action. Higher instances of collective guilt were recorded when individuals were presented with the stance that humans have a 'minor' effect on climate change. Individuals were recorded to be more likely to use energy conservative practices and have higher willingness to pay 'green taxes' based on those feelings. Ecological guilt was also associated with less likeliness of pro-environmental action and increased levels of feelings of helplessness when human effects were attributed on a larger scale vs. minor.In the context of climate change, individuals often grapple with a tangible sense of guilt, explained through the concept of "analysis paralysis."
Impacts
Individual acts
On April 14, 2018, civil rights attorney David Buckel, 60, self-immolated without witnesses at about 6 a.m. in a Brooklyn, N.Y., park, after having sent an email notifying news organizations. His suicide letter stated, "My early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves" and "Here is a hope that giving a life might bring some attention to the need for expanded action."On April 22, 2022—Earth Day—Wynn Bruce, 50, self-immolated in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building, apparently to protest climate inaction, after having edited a comment on a 2021 Facebook post about a course on climate change, writing "4/22/2022" next to a fire emoji.
Eco-tourism
As for the case of eco-tourism, there have been disheartening impacts made in Bama Yao Autonomous Country located in Guangxi, China. Bama Country is referred to as a longevity town due to the high percentage of centenarians residing in the area. Between the years of 2011-2019 tourism in Bama country had increased by 600% of up to 825,000 tourists. A study was conducted to evaluate emotional response of Bama residents experiencing ecological damage because of economic growth in tourism. Residents were reported to be saddened to notice that the Panyang River that was once used a source for drinking water, bathing, fishing, cooling and cooking is now very polluted as a result of exploitive physical changes done to environment for wellness tourism. Residents have reported feelings of helplessness, sadness and disappointment regarding coming to terms with and letting go of memories associated with the river. Residents say the depletion of the river has led to them losing part of their sense of belonging and has transpired into ecological grief.Where there is economic development, there will be environmental damage, there is no best of both worlds. The natural environment used to be good, but you couldn't get enough food to eat - Bama residentFindings argue that for some residents their ecological grief can be compensated with economic growth and opportunity for modernization of their lifestyles.