Understanding Ecological Grief
What Is Ecological Grief?
Ecological grief refers to the emotion we experience as a result of observing the ongoing impact of the climate crisis on our environment. Like any form of grief, it can include a range of emotions: sadness, anger, hopelessness, defeat, resignation, denial, and rage, to name a few. In the last few decades, rising temperatures across the globe have increased the frequency of devastating natural disasters. Social media has made the impacts of these events on everyday people more accessible, making experiences of this type of grief more common.
You might not even realize that part of what you have been experiencing is related to this. Understanding and naming why we feel the way we do is a critical part of moving through our emotions and understanding what action we can take to shift the impact of those feelings moving forward.
Causes and Contributors
There are multiple causes of ecological grief. Currently, we are experiencing high rates of environmental disruption, not only in our immediate environments but on a global level. We may also feel sadness or loss over the ways we may have contributed to the climate crisis or the history of our family. We feel sadness that future generations will not have the same experience of our earth that we had in the past, and this can also be a form of anticipatory grief. In addition, we can feel increased fear and sadness seeing our local environment impacted, or even potentially our housing, leading to a feeling of instability.
Our current news cycle tends to focus on the negative, and this can also cause our perspective to be skewed. Intentionally seeking out positive news sources and examples of folks actively contributing to change for the better can bring hope and continued motivation towards action ourselves.
Learn more about Ecological Grief Counselling with us at The Commons Wellness Collective
Common Symptoms and Signs
Ecological grief can also trigger ecological anxiety, guilt, or existential dread. These result from fear we feel towards the future or an inability to reconcile what we know to be true with our own behavior.
Examples of how this could show include:
Hesitation to have children out of fear of the environment they will face when they are adults.
Anxiety or dread of being displaced due to the risks of natural disasters associated with where you live.
Guilt leading to a sense of apathy or disconnection. If we don’t know how to address the guilt, it can feel easier to live in denial.
Hesitance to invest in your career or future because of uncertainty about what the world will look like a few decades from now, leading you to stay focused on the moment or distract yourself from planning for the future.
A focus on hoarding resources to try to increase your sense of safety and the belief that you’d have the ability to protect yourself or your family.
While this list is not exhaustive, it can start to give you a sense of the ways we can be impacted by ecological grief.
Psychological Impact
Long-term unacknowledged ecological grief or eco-anxiety can have a significant psychological impact. When we feel hopeless or trapped in our circumstances, feelings of depression can increase and even lead to suicidal ideation. The idea that a better outcome for the future of the planet may be unattainable can cause a feeling of dread associated with the future and low motivation to accomplish the tasks necessary to engage in everyday life. Feeling alone in this type of experience can be the worst part.
One of the main ways to combat the impacts of ecological grief is to start talking about what you’re experiencing. You will realize not only that you are not alone, but that people all over the world are actively fighting for the future of humanity and our planet. Surrounding yourself with positive examples of change and feeling like there is something worthwhile for you to participate in can make a big impact on your mood.
If you’re starting to recognize that some of your anxiety or low mood may be attributed in part to the environmental impact you’ve witnessed over your lifetime, you do not need to keep suffering through this alone.
