Eco-Anxiety in “the Climate Generation”: Is Action an Antidote?
Conference Year
January 2021
Abstract
My presentation will be on my honors thesis research on ecological anxiety. Eco-anxiety, or climate anxiety, is anxiety related to distress caused by environmental changes. This interview-based research seeks to understand if action through UVM environmental organizations serves as an antidote for eco-anxiety among members of the climate generation, people born from the early 1990s to early 2000s, aged 17-22 (UVM undergrad population). The climate generation is the first to spend its entire life with climate change's effects. This research seeks to expand upon the psychological components of climate response, resilience and action, elements less well studied than policy or ecological impact.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Rachelle Gould
Secondary Mentor Name
Amy Seidl
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Environmental Studies
Second Program/Major
Political Science
Primary Research Category
Social Sciences
Eco-Anxiety in “the Climate Generation”: Is Action an Antidote?
My presentation will be on my honors thesis research on ecological anxiety. Eco-anxiety, or climate anxiety, is anxiety related to distress caused by environmental changes. This interview-based research seeks to understand if action through UVM environmental organizations serves as an antidote for eco-anxiety among members of the climate generation, people born from the early 1990s to early 2000s, aged 17-22 (UVM undergrad population). The climate generation is the first to spend its entire life with climate change's effects. This research seeks to expand upon the psychological components of climate response, resilience and action, elements less well studied than policy or ecological impact.