Sustainability Language

Human Rights & Social Sustainability

Eco-anxiety

"A chronic fear of environmental doom" — distress about climate change and ecological loss, recognised by the APA as a rational response, not a diagnosis.

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Definition

Eco-anxiety is defined by the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica (2017) as "a chronic fear of environmental doom" — distress arising from observing or anticipating the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. It is not a clinical diagnosis and is regarded as a rational response to real threat, though severe forms can affect mental health. Related constructs include ecological grief and solastalgia — the homesickness felt when one's home environment is transformed.

References

APA Monitor

APA/ecoAmerica 2017 definition and related terms

Overview

What it means

The mental-health dimension of the climate crisis, felt most intensely by young people, frontline communities and those whose work confronts the science.

How it is used

The term is used in climate psychology, youth-engagement research, workplace wellbeing and public-health planning; surveys track its prevalence across populations.

Why it matters

Eco-anxiety shapes engagement, voting and behaviour; recognising it is part of understanding climate change as a whole-of-society issue, and of supporting those responding to it.

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