Eco-anxiety, according to The American Psychiatric Association (APA) , is described as “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” It refers to a person’s direct or indirect experience of environmental degradation as seen in the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and wildlife extinction and plastic pollution. Anxiety around environmental issues can stem from experiencing, being at risk of, or having loved ones at risk of climate-related weather, including floods, droughts, and extreme heat.  Extreme weather events impact people’s homes and destroy communities as we now see in rural communities. Scientific evidence is emerging that people are starting to experience extreme or chronic anxiety because they feel as though they cannot control environmental problems, especially climate change. From fear and anxiety to hope and healing – our responses to environmental change are complex and multi-dimensional.

At TEAP, one of our objectives includes space making for the understanding of eco-anxiety in Africa. Our webinars are creating a virtual space with African experts, enthusiasts and climate activities to discuss and further explore this topic from an African lens. Our founder, Jennifer Uchendu and Dr Charles Ogunbode were speakers for our first TEAP webinar series held on April 7th, 2022. They discussed environmental-related emotions from both personal and academic perspectives. Jennifer spoke from a personal perspective of experiencing a breakdown as a climate activist during COP25, Where she felt betrayed by world leaders not bothered enough by the environmental crisis to take immediate action to combat and mitigate its impact. Dr Charles shared his thoughts as a psychologist from an academic perspective. He presented a paper which delved into how negative climate-related emotions affect Africans’ mental health and even our environmental behavior. Emotions such as frustration, rage, sadness, betrayal, hope, and optimism were among the feelings voiced in owning our African narrative. Click here to catch up on the full recording of the webinar.

While the term “eco-anxiety” may still be perceived as a foreign concept for Africans,  our worry about the environment is linked to an intrinsic concern for our livelihood, security, and government systems. Mental health issues are not always taken seriously in Africa and are sometimes attributed with ‘supernatural’ forces in rural communities. People feel the frustration due to the changing environment and its impacts but are unlikely to attribute this to a mental health issue.

The good news is that there are ways to alleviate these feelings, even for us in Africa.  Often the solutions involve ramping up one’s own efforts to mitigate climate change. And as we learnt in this webinar, there are two sides of the coin– our emotional responses to climate change and our actions to mitigate the crisis and they both go hand in hand.