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

Abstract only.

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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.