At the moment there is no specific “phobia” of climate change that I know of. However many people do suffer from common mental health issues such as anxiety or mental distress and climate change may be the focus of what causes their symptoms. You can find out more about anxiety here. In terms of specific names for feelings related to climate change, an Australian philosopher called Glen Albrecht wrote a book called “Earth Emotions” which provided names for a range of feelings about our relationship to the planet and what’s happening to it. One of his most famous terms is:

Solastagia: A feeling of distress or homesickness for a place affected or destroyed by environmental change

You may have also heard of terms such as eco-anxiety, eco-distress and ecological grief. These are not currently considered mental disorders, but do describe well what a lot of people feel when they think about environmental issues. Similarly, “anticipatory trauma” or “anticipatory grief” refers to feelings of distress about events that may happen in the future, and could be related to climate events.

Whilst some people find these new terms to be helpful, other people in climate-affected communities may not relate to them, or find clinical or uncommon/fancy language to be alienating. Therefore just learning to talk about stress and anxiety in general, and express how we are feeling in whatever language is comfortable is a great place to start.

First, I would like to say that it is normal to feel distress when you see footage of extreme weather events and think about the effects of climate change. Watching such footage can be genuinely terrifying, and reacting to this with distress and worry is a completely appropriate reaction and nothing to feel ashamed about. There are a number of simple things you can do to start off with which I will outline below. However, if you find these feelings of distress are continuing, please do tell a safe adult that you trust about what you are going through, or find help through the resources available through our page on feelings about climate change.

1. Turn off the news: Whilst it is important to know what’s going on in the world, accessing a constant stream of distressing images about the climate crisis (what some people call “doomscrolling”) may disproportionately prioritise your attention on these events, compared to other things like study and opportunities for connection at home or school. One good idea is to have regular breaks from news and social media feeds that show these images in order to give your mind a break.
2. Talk to your friends: Make time to socialise with friends and talk to others you can trust about your worries, knowing that you are not the only one going through this is very helpful.
3. Find adults who are in solidarity with you about addressing the climate crisis: There are many adults also concerned about climate change who would love to talk or get you involved in their work (for example, all those who contribute to the Curious Climate programme). Find ways of connecting with their organisations or get involved in school or citizen science projects so you can learn from others and find a sense of community.
4. Know you can get help: If you are so distressed this is making it hard to go to school, study or do other basic things in life, talk to a GP, school counsellor or Kids Helpline as early as possible to see what help is available.

Thank you for this very hard and important question. I realise that lots of children and adults currently feel worried or anxious about climate change and are concerned about how it will affect their future. If you feel like this, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you. Actually, it means that you are a good, moral person who is interested in the world around you and someone who cares about your planet, your family and your friends. 

There are lots of people who feel the same as you all around the world, and many people are working together to do the best they can to take action on climate change. Through the Curious Climate project, you might also meet some cool adults and scientists who can support your school if you or your friends would like to get involved in protecting the environment or climate action.  

I don’t believe there will be a moment any time in the near future when large groups of people suddenly start dying of climate change. Climate change will affect different parts of the world in different ways, and at different times. In some places, weather events such as fires and floods, and hotter summers and colder winters will become more frequent, and this does put people at risk of injury and disease. For example, if you live in a fire prone area where your grandparents were evacuated once or twice in their lives, a family living in the same area today might experience evacuations more frequently. Similarly, heatwaves are dangerous for certain people in the community such as old people. If we have a very hot day and people who are sick or old don’t drink enough water or can’t keep their house cool, they are more at risk of having to go to hospital or dying. This already happens to some people every year in hot parts of the world.  The health risks of living in hot weather will become more serious for vulnerable people if we have more very hot days within a year.  

If a community does experience an event that is likely to be connected to climate change (e.g a bushfire) there are lots of things communities can do to heal themselves and recover. After the 2013 bushfire in Dunalley, the community came together quickly to rebuild the school so that the kids could be with their teachers and friends. In Australia, we have lots of good resources and lessons from past disasters to help us live through hard and difficult times. Together as a community we can learn how to adapt to living with the health threats of climate change. Even when serious disasters happen and some people are hurt or killed, we know that over time people in the community can heal and go on to live full and joyful lives.