Anxious about climate change? Here’s what you need to know about ‘ecological grief’
Global News
Psychologists are noticing more and more instances of ecological grief. What it is and what you can do about it.
John Pomeroy has been observing glaciers in the Rockies for decades — first as a young man, and now as a leading expert in the field. The changes he is seeing unfold before his eyes have left him weary, exhausted and tearful.
“I’ve been going to these glaciers since the late 1970s and the landscapes I remember from when I was younger are gone,” he says.
That sense of loss is increasingly present as the natural world changes with a rapidly warming planet.
This week, thousands of residents in British Columbia experienced first-hand the devastating loss caused by widespread flooding and landslides.
These changes, and the loss of property or life that often comes with them, are distressing and exhausting, and psychologists are noticing how that’s affecting mental health.
“You can mourn the loss of our environment and its destruction, and that loss is often painful and analogous to the grief from the loss of a loved one or grief from the loss of a pet,” he says.
“I have to admit I do have nightmares about this sometimes,” Pomeroy says of the Peyto glacier in the Rockies — his life’s work — literally disappearing before his eyes.
“We’re seeing … a loss of one’s personal heritage, the loss of one’s home, as well as the loss of the ecosystem, the loss of future water, and the threat to the planet.”