Symposium: Climate Anxiety and Action
Climate change can affect almost every aspect of a person’s health and wellbeing, either directly through exposure to climate events, or through news and social media coverage of subjects like environmental devastation and government inaction. This can lead to anxiety, depression and a lack of hope for the future, as highlighted by organisations such as UNICEF, Harvard and others.
More and more people are increasingly worried about climate change. When these worries persist and become difficult to control, we speak of climate anxiety. This raises the question: how can we turn this anxiety into action? And is taking action the only way to address it? Not everyone experiences anxiety in the same way; some may feel it intensely, while others might not even recognize it in themselves. In this discussion, we will explore these ideas with three experts, and share best practices for overcoming anxiety and moving forward with purpose.
Lena Hölzle is a PhD candidate in Environmental Psychology at the University of Groningen. Her research focuses on understanding the stress and strong emotions people feel about environmental problems. She studies why people experience this eco-distress and when it becomes overwhelming and affects people’s well-being. She is particularly interested in understanding how eco-distress differs across generations, and why it seems to affect young people the most.
Mewis Breij (Education Manager at Youth Climate Movement) was once disconnected from the climate crisis, but is now dedicated to a telling a new story about a sustainable world, in which humans become part of the web of life again and life matters more than endless economic growth. He creates learning spaces to encourage as many people as possible to engage with this new story.
The name of the third speaker will be announced soon.
Signing up for the panel discussion must be done through the Studium Generale website.