(Illustration by iStock/mathisworks)
A convergence is happening between the climate and mental health movements, and social impact practitioners need to pay attention. Globally, the abrupt impacts of climate catastrophes (super typhoons, extreme heat, flooding, etc.) as well as slow-onset events (e.g., sea-level rise, melting of ice, etc.) are causing compounding distress and trauma and are leaving people, particularly the world's youth, concerned for the future. Many others are feeling distress as they process the realities of widespread environmental and biodiversity loss.
Without coordinated action and deep integration of responses to climate change and mental health, we risk insurmountable strain on our world and people’s mental health and well-being, leading to higher rates of mental ill health, moral and spiritual disarray, and strained systems of response. Characterizing the relationship between these two complex problems is often challenging because the true tolls of the mental health and climate crises are inseparable.
While the climate and mental health movements are getting increased attention separately, a small set of leaders working across these movements are prioritizing and integrating mental health and climate advocacy as a unified effort. From climate scientists to psychologists, these actors are creating bi-directional efforts that serve both causes. Importantly, they see these two global crises as inextricably linked, highlighting that people across these movements must integrate these fields of practice rather than working in silos.
This integration may seem obvious due to climate change’s collective impact and threat. Yet, all individuals in social impact face a similar challenge, whether addressing things like housing, health care, or poverty. Inequities are often directly connected to issues related to mental health, as things like experiencing discrimination or trauma impact our ability to achieve well-being and increase the prevalence of depression and anxiety. Similarly, the detrimental impacts of climate change on mental health and the value of connection to nature in supporting well-being are causes for these issues to come together.
Beyond prioritizing mental health education and interventions in our initiatives, social impact practitioners across all areas often face personal challenges as we dedicate our time and energy to witnessing and mitigating the world’s inequities. In recent years, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have heard repeated calls for self-care in the face of what can be exhausting and painful work.
At this critical moment in history, we have been asking ourselves how to engage in this difficult work beyond cliche advice about self-care. How do we build sustainable environments for advocacy, activism, and change?
Translating Emotion Into Action
Emotional reactions to climate change (e.g., angst, sadness, anger, frustration, etc.) are appropriate and valid because the threats of climate change are real and already negatively affecting the lives of many people around the world. Climate change emotions are also functional. Accumulating evidence shows climate emotions are associated with greater engagement in climate action (e.g., reducing individual carbon footprint, climate activism, support for climate policies). For example, young people in many countries are driven to advocate against climate change (i.e., changing their diets and lifestyles, calling governments to act, and holding private corporations accountable) as they experience worries and fear about their future.
Social impact practitioners fighting for other important causes experience similar difficulties as they grapple with the emotional weight of the issues they care about. Instead of avoiding or ignoring how they and their peers are personally affected, practitioners should create space for validating and processing the reality of navigating complex emotions related to their work. By doing so, we can prevent people from becoming numb or burning out and create ways to re-engage people in taking action.
For instance, the Climate Mental Health Network, a nonprofit founded in 2021 to address the mental health consequences of climate change, is using creative media, such as film, Gen-Z-led podcasts, and sound meditations, to share lived experiences, elevate how young people feel about climate change, and document what it means to fight for the right to a livable planet. These stories have been translated into multiple languages and are being viewed in communities worldwide to inspire hope and rapid action. By uplifting the emotional experiences of individuals in advocacy, these efforts create room for authentic expression and provide entry points for new and sustained engagement, especially with young people. Other social impact leaders can replicate similar storytelling and creative communications campaigns to work with emotions to tackle big problems.
Integrating Creative and Rejuvenating Practices
Witnessing and fighting unjust systems in the world can be morally and spiritually draining. Moreover, it can be tiring and overwhelming to be constantly exposed to various forms of suffering in the world and, in the context of climate advocacy, the catastrophic nature of human-caused climate change.
The climate mental health movement is working to create space for artistic and spiritual integration in this process so that practitioners from across cultures can heal inner and outer wounds accumulated on the path to a more just world. For example, youth-led organizations and climate advocates in the Philippines have begun to use artistic and spiritual approaches to express their concerns and advocacy against climate change, including in the annual Pintaflores festival. In 2018, the religious (i.e. Catholic priests and residents) and artistic groups (e.g. Kanlaon Theater Guild, Kagayon Dance Troupe of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, MasKara Theater Ensemble) blended spiritual ecology and ethnic Visayan theater arts, showcasing colorful pre-Spanish ethnic costumes, chants, and dances, not only as a way to celebrate the Feast Day of the patron saint San Carlos Borromeo but also a strong expression of their advocacy to protect the people, other living beings, and the planet amid the climate crisis. The annual event continues to raise awareness of the community’s ancestral history and connection to nature as well as reinvigorating people’s spiritual connection.
Another example is the conservation efforts of residents of Benchen Monastery in Nepal where they planted 1,000 trees in Jampaling Pokhara, a Tibetan refugee camp, to commemorate the 17th Karmapa, their spiritual leader who is also an environmental advocate. The effort could not only help reduce carbon in the atmosphere in the long term but also motivate the public to engage in sustainable actions as an expression of their spirituality.
As we are more connected than ever before as a global community, we can all work to learn from and uplift diverse ways of processing the complexities of the world. From connecting with ancestral lineages to somatic practices, diverse modes of caring for oneself and others are important to all social issues and can be tools for any social practitioner seeking traditional (psychology and therapy) and non-traditional (culturally rooted healing and healing circles) forms of support in their communities.
Creating Space for Intergenerational Impact
While the current generation most acutely feels climate impacts, this work is also about safeguarding the future for all people. In the climate movement, the clear threats to the long-term health of people and the world necessitate planning for the long haul and working towards an impact that will be felt hundreds of years from now. We invite practitioners working across sectors rooted to grant cycles and near-term impact to start exploring the long-term intergenerational dimensions of social change work and the constellation of relationships required to sustain such movements.
This work to honor and create benefits for those in the future relies on building sustainable societal systems and inclusive, diverse, and connected societies that value the planet’s health and people’s mental health and well-being. Indeed, we want to see more community-centered, relational, and multi-generational values informing policies and programs today that also hold a clear and inclusive vision for the future. One example of this happening is climate cafes, a model created to provide safe, hospitable, and compassionate space for individuals trying to process the complex realities of climate change. Organizations, such as Force of Nature, a youth-led group based in the UK, have created resources on how to host a climate café in communities across the world, already enabling more than 150 cafes across 46 countries. This intergenerational model is open-sourced and compassion based, bringing people across age groups together to process complex emotions related to climate change in supportive community spaces. They can also be used everywhere, especially in settings with limited resources or infrastructure to address these issues.
Public forums for dialogue and sharing of lived experiences are a powerful way to close generational divides, which is necessary for us to see long-term change across the issues we care about. Intergenerational opportunities for connection and a sense of responsibility can be integrated into schools, local communities, and other social change programs to help bridge gaps and shape a shared responsibility to current and future generations.
Conclusion
The lessons shared here are but a few of the wide variety of insights that can be drawn from the climate change and mental health movements. From moving out of despair and into action to bridging divides across generations, advocates can maintain and preserve their well-being by being part of a supportive community that serves as their socio-emotional resource. Driven by the urgency of the looming climate deadline, there is much to learn from practitioners on the frontlines of these issues. Doing so will help us address the most important social issues of our time and also help us move away from toxic norms and cultures that de-prioritize care for ourselves and others.
As a network of practitioners working across issue areas, our hope is that these lessons will help people to engage in long-term transformative and creative actions that break disciplinary and sectoral boundaries to achieve positive change in the world. Creating a better world for all requires not only a commitment to our own advocacy but recognizing the actions of other social impact groups and using insights from their unique experiences and best practices to drive new forms of change.
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Read more stories by Lian Zeitz, John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta & Kelly Davis.