By B. Alexander Simmons

Tampa Bay residents canoe down the Alafia River. Photographer: Joe Whalen.

This Plain Language Summary is published in advance of the paper discussed. Please check back soon for a link to the full paper.

Nature is good for the soul, but its loss may be contributing to a new mental health crisis. Eco-anxiety—feelings of anxiety specifically regarding environmental degradation—is quickly gaining attention from both mental health and environmental professionals. Little is known about this new ‘ecological emotion,’ but it has the potential to negatively impact the daily lives of those experiencing severe symptoms. Pervasive feelings of eco-anxiety could also lead to a sense of hopelessness that might discourage people from taking conservation action. Clinical psychologists—who often lack the expertise to discuss modern environmental issues with patients—frequently recommend that eco-anxiety sufferers seek out opportunities to engage with nature. But here’s the problem: the environmental practitioners offering these activities are rarely equipped to support people on this mental health journey. They might even make their symptoms worse.

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of those experiencing eco-anxiety and translate these findings into strategies to help environmental practitioners embed mental health and wellbeing into their communications, outreach, and education programs. In this Tampa Bay case study, I surveyed over 1,200 residents to evaluate their symptoms of eco-anxiety, while collecting information about various sociodemographic, behavioural, and psychosocial characteristics that we could use to identify who might be at greater risk of developing symptoms. I found that roughly one out of every six residents in Tampa Bay exhibit moderate to severe symptoms of eco-anxiety. Eco-anxiety tends to be greater in people who are more connected to nature and more frequently engaging in pro-environmental behaviours but exhibiting greater distress at the changes in their environment. Those exhibiting the most severe symptoms have far less hope that their actions could make an impact on the environment.

Using these results, I outline how environmental practitioners can incorporate objectives to help reduce feelings of eco-anxiety into their various community engagement programs, including experiential education, citizen science, and volunteer activities. By incorporating elements to help strengthen participants’ emotional resilience into their activities, environmental practitioners can help improve people’s mental health, inspire conservation action, and ultimately contribute to a future in which people and nature can flourish together.