Watching footage of bush fires ripping through Australia, my stomach tightens and I feel a wave of emotions barrel over me. Guilt: I should be doing more; fear: is it the beginning of the end?; grief: will our collective inaction mean my kids won’t enjoy the beautiful world the way I have?; anger: why aren’t I doing more? Why isn’t everyone doing more?; and despondency: is there any point anyway?
This is not the first time I’ve been flooded by these feelings. It’s a frequent occurrence, triggered by anything that reminds me of the climate crisis, from forgetting to put out my recycling to getting on a plane. And, while my response may seem disproportionate, University of Bath teaching fellow and climate psychology therapist Caroline Hickman assures me that it is a normal, psychologically healthy reaction to the climate emergency, and she feels these emotions every day.
Hickman, who is involved with the Climate Psychology Alliance, says she is seeing a rise in people of all ages coming to her with eco anxiety, including young women who feel they shouldn’t have children with the world in this state and mothers having nightmares about the fate of their offspring.