I’ve always had a connection to nature and the environment. I recall being in awe when we climbed the steep hill to the top of Olumo Rock in South Western Nigeria during a primary school field trip. When my family moved to a peri-urban location on the outskirts of Lagos state, this curiosity grew. Living there, I witnessed for the first time the various stages of growth for numerous local plant species. In senior high school, I was allocated a 3 x 3 allotment to cultivate vegetables and corn for an agricultural science practical lesson which cemented the beginning of my journey into plant cultivation and a deepening connection to the life cycle.

My 2nd school visit to Olumo Rock

I learned about how people interact with the environment, earth systems, climate change, and ecological degradation while studying geography in university. I started to see how crucial it is to preserve natural equilibrium. As I reflected on what I had been taught, recognising the fragility of our solar system and how nature is interrelated in order to sustain life, I realised that our existing lifestyles are not viable for the long term. For too long, we have disregarded and disrupted the natural environmental systems and processes without any censure.

One of my babies

Environmental degradation, rising temperatures, climatic variations, irresponsible waste management, poor urban planning, the cultural exaltation of materialism, dysfunctional political systems, unemployment, insecurity, drought and flooding – the more I learned about these concepts and realised their interconnectedness, the more anxious and miserable I became. How are we to endure in such a state? It became abundantly clear to me how ultimately unsustainable and joyless living would be if we continue with the status quo much longer.

What could I do to help myself, my family, my local community, and even the entire world (how naive of me), given that my constant despair was also unsustainable? My friend then suggested that I volunteer for environmental organisations, which is how I came to volunteer with the Plogging club, Obafemi Awolowo University chapter and SustyVibes, a community that helps young people take action that promotes/encourages sustainable living. 

Through sustyvibes, I was able to participate in various sustainability-focused programs such as; street cleanups, tree planting drives and sustyparties.  These events opened my eyes to the willful ignorance of the general public to the need for environmental protection, as well as governments’ and world powers’ indifference to the urgency of the climate problem.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, I stumbled on the word “ecoanxiety” on one of the many eco-conscious pages I follow on instagram and that’s when I realised that there is actually a word for what I was feeling and I was not alone in feeling those emotions. Although, ecoanxiety for me manifested in the form of anger, sadness and frustration – differently from the guilt-laden eurocentric point of view on the internet, I could still relate to that concept of the present and looming environmental crises affecting my psychological and emotional health. Although I still mostly feel hopeless about humanity surviving the climate crisis, I decided to be actionable in whatever way i can contribute which i am currently doing as the project manager at The Eco-anxiety Africa Project where my work involves space-making to understand and validate eco-anxiety, particularly in the African context. I hope to use my experiences to transition into climate psychotherapy leveraging communal psycho-social support groups to build resilience for adaptation and future survival.

Written by Ayomide Olude