鈥淚 see people struggling with these emotions across the age range,鈥 said Robinson. 鈥淚 have parents who are themselves really struggling with their own feelings and really worried about their children in the future.鈥
Make a positivity sandwich
Climate news and the onslaught of disaster and mayhem in general has become heavy and overwhelming for many with the rise of social media and mobile phone use. Try scheduling breaks from notifications on your phone or stepping back from the news cycle in other ways.
Consider the idea of a 鈥減ositivity sandwich,鈥 where you begin with a good piece of news, followed by a harder tidbit, then finish with a second feel-good story.
Model behaviors for your kids
Phoebe Yu, 39, gave up a cushy job in health technology to work on an MBA with a focus on sustainability. She started a business selling sponges made from the luffa gourd. And she does it all while raising her 6-year-old son with her husband in Fremont, California.
鈥淚 am generally a very happy person and I鈥檓 very optimistic. And I鈥檓 still that, but sometimes it becomes very difficult to manage. Like, what will happen and thinking about the long term,鈥 she said. 鈥淎t points, I鈥檝e regretted bringing a child into this world, knowing how things could get much, much worse.鈥
Part of managing her own emotions is trying to model sustainable behaviors for her son while educating him on the importance of helping the environment. The family drives an electric vehicle. They don鈥檛 eat meat and have encouraged extended family to do the same. They recycle, compost and limit travel by air.
鈥淚 try to explain things to my son so he can at least have some understanding of how the world and the ecosystem works as a whole,鈥 Yu said. 鈥淚 do think kids are able to absorb that and turn that into some level of action.鈥
Remember: We’re all connected
Britnee Reid teaches middle school science for Gaston Virtual Academy, a K-12 virtual public school based in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Reid participated in a pilot project for a free teacher toolkit on climate put together by the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Climate Mental Health Network, a collective of community advocates working on the emotional impacts of climate change.
The kit is full of ways to help teachers support students鈥 mental health and manage their own climate-related emotions. One of the exercises involves students documenting their interactions with the natural world in an environmental timeline. Laying it all out often stirs action, Reid said.
鈥淭hey can be anxious, they can be angry, they can feel fearful, but they鈥檙e like these go-getters of, 鈥業鈥檓 going to make the change in this world.鈥 There鈥檚 kind of two truths at once where they feel scared but they also feel like, you know, I can do something about this,鈥 she said.
鈥淭he timelines,” Reid said, “provided some good, rich conversations.鈥
Find the words to express your feelings
Psychotherapist Patricia Hasbach, just outside of Eugene, Oregon, has written several books on eco-psychology and eco-therapy and has taught graduate students on those topics.
鈥淲e incorporate nature into the healing process,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd we address a person鈥檚 relationship with the natural world. Certainly with climate change, eco-therapy has a huge role to play.鈥
One of her most important missions is helping people find their words to talk about climate change in pursuit of resilience.
鈥淭here have been some studies done that show an increased number of young people reporting concern, like 84% of young people in the US reporting concern about climate change, but only like 59% of them think that other people are as concerned as they are,鈥 Hasbach said.
That, she said, contributes to inaction and feelings of anxiety, depression or isolation.
You’re not one. You’re many
Climate scientist Kate Marvel, a physicist and author of the new book 鈥淗uman Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About our Changing Planet,鈥 urges people to think differently about their place in preserving the environment.
鈥淎 lot of times, the anxiety and the hopelessness comes from a feeling of powerlessness. And I don鈥檛 think any of us is powerless,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 think collectively, we鈥檙e incredibly powerful,” Marvel said. “The atmosphere cares about what all of us together are doing, and I think you can have much more impact if you think of yourself as part of the collective.鈥