Anja Murray: How to deal with climate anxiety during Cop 27 and beyond

Here are some ways to help manage distressing feelings arising from the climate situation

So much of the news is distressing right now, compounded by a widespread lack of faith in existing institutions to take effective actions in the timescale required.

Another climate summit is underway; the window to act is rapidly narrowing, and progress on reducing greenhouse emissions is excruciatingly slow. 

So much of the news is distressing, compounded by a widespread lack of faith in existing institutions to take effective actions in the timescale required.

Climate anxiety is understandably affecting many people. Climate anxiety is a decline in mental health related to the global climate crisis and the threat of environmental disaster, also referred to as eco-anxiety or climate distress. 

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit

Climate anxiety can impact our ability to concentrate, insomnia, and obsessive thinking. Young people (10–24 years) are particularly vulnerable to mental health impacts associated with climate anxiety and will need support in navigating the understandable emotional distress arising from the climate crisis.

There are ways to help manage distressing feelings arising from the climate situation. Experts recommend that coming together with others who share similar feelings is one of the best ways to cope with anxiety. 

Nature thrives on symbiosis and diversity and so do we. Talking about the climate and biodiversity crisis with friends, family, peers and others can help us to come up with creative ways to take action and manage our mental health.

Rather than avoid the feelings of overwhelm, remember that the severity of the crisis in itself is a motivation to take action. Psychologists have found that positive experiences are critically important for inspiring and motivating yourself and others to taking action.

People take part in a climate change march in Montreal, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. Picture: Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP

Tailoring our approaches to getting involved in taking positive action will depend on our own preferences, skills and strengths, but taking action together as part of a wider group or movement is one of the most effective ways to channel anxiety. 

And while we are dealing with the overwhelming facts of our global situation, spending time outdoors in nature can help to develop emotional resilience. Scientific evidence points to nature being an antidote to stress and at the heart of our physical and mental well-being. 

Experiencing nature can help us to feel better in ourselves, to feel more connected to the world and each other.

Rather than allowing ourselves to succumb to doom or sink into despair, we can develop deeper connections with nature and sustain the positivity we need to take action on climate change. 

But during the winter months, now that the hour has gone back, finding ways to engage ourselves with nature can be a bit more challenging.

Here are 5 things you can do together with friends, family or colleagues to engage with the wonder of the natural world, in Ireland, during November

• Tens of thousands of geese have been arriving in Ireland over the past few weeks, here to spend the winter months. Brent geese have flown 3,000 miles from Arctic Canada. Barnacle Geese and Greenland White-fronted geese have just arrived in from Greenland. They have managed the impressive feat of travelling thousands of kilometres across vast landmasses and oceans without any maps or apps. Their migrations are a staggering accomplishment. Sometimes Geese can be seen and heard passing overhead, honking as they go. But making a trip to a coastal mudflat in one of the estuaries all around the country is definitely worth the effort. From Wexford Wildfowl Reserve to several sites in Cork Harbour SPA, from Tralee Bay, Galway Bay, Strangford Lough and Rogerstown Estuary in North County Dublin, and these are just a few of the better-known sites, there are plenty of options where to go.
• Spend a few hours exploring an autumn woodland — it can be both exciting and reassuring, even in windy or wet weather. The trees offer shelter, colour, and engulf us with the soft textures of bright moss, the appealing fractal shapes of ferns, and the richly patterned overhead canopy. Watch out for Jays flying with acorns or hazelnuts in their beak. Listen for Long Eared owls calling out at dusk
• A murmuration of starlings is a spectacular natural phenomenon that each of us can experience, for free, right here in Ireland, all over the country. Starling murmurations occur in known locations each through the winter months, when starlings are finished nesting for the year and no longer attached to breeding territory. Find out where there is one in your county, and arrive just before dusk, when thousands of starlings will be gathering from the surrounding countryside, joining together to make a swooping cloud of breath-taking synchronised flight, expanding and swirling in wondrous shapes. So many birds racing through the air creates an enormous swoosh from above, a powerful spectacle of wild sound that is worth experiencing with others.
• Hedgerows are full of life in Autumn too, providing shelter for robins, great tits and blackbirds, overwintering caterpillars and hibernating hedgehogs. The colourful assortment of hawthorn, guelder-rose, holly and hazel are framing rural roads farmland fields with autumn colour. Right now is the time to gather shiny red rosehips and try your hand at making an immune-boosting rosehip syrup to keep winter colds at bay. Foraging on autumn fruits and perhaps sharing the experience with friends is a wonderful way to bring nature’s bounty home in the roughness of November days.
• There are long dark evenings at home to contend with, and I find that reading nature-themed books is another wonderful way to engage with the outdoors at this time of year, without having to leave the comfort of your sofa! I have been enjoying Eoghan Daltun’s recently published book An Irish Atlantic Rainforest – a personal journey into the magic of rewilding in which its hard not to be enthused by the writers passion for woodlands and the far reaching possibilities of ecological restoration. There is also a fascinating book by Merlin Sheldrake called Entangled Life – How fungi make our worlds, change our minds, and shape our futures which is a fascinating, eye opening and seasonally appropriate read right now. Finally, one book I always return to when feeling anxious or overwhelmed by the biodiversity and climate crisis is Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. It is a concise, inspiring and superbly readable account of how action can light our way through dark and challenging times.