Community explores ways to manage climate anxiety

As the University celebrates Earth Week, students, staff and faculty look for ways to deal with climate anxiety, a sense of despair that may result from the global climate crisis. Pamela Tobi Fishel discussed how she approaches the topic from a psychological perspective, while students discussed how they use their strengths to find ways to make a positive impact in the environment while not getting overwhelmed and burnt out. 

According to Fishel, a professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, most types of anxieties result from fears that stem from stories that people have in their heads based on past lived experiences. However, climate anxiety derives specifically from worry rooted in events, such as the extinction of different species and climate change, that are currently taking place, Fishel said.

“[Psychologists] want to help folks be able to feel their feelings and connect to the natural world and know what’s going on and not be overwhelmed by it and collapse,” Fishel said.

Climate anxiety, while not exclusive to young people, manifests differently in individuals across the lifespan. Older adults tend to lean towards feelings of grief over the damage the Earth experiences, while younger people tend to feel anger and disappointment over the lack of action being taken to manage the climate crisis. 

“[Older adults] might not be looking at the next 50 years of what’s going to happen to the planet,” Fishel said. “But young people are looking at what’s going to happen in 50 years when [they are older].”

As a clinical psychologist, Fishel has spent a great deal of her career bringing awareness to and teaching people to deal with feelings of anxiety and depression. When she started to work on her own emotional healing 30 years ago, she participated in many nature-based retreats, where she learned that connecting to the natural world and loving it were integral to emotional healing.

“I’ve developed a passion for helping other folks find the medicine, and the natural world and our real connection and how we can heal,” Fishel said. “I’ve always connected people to the natural world, and both our grief and also our love.”

This compelled Fishel to create workshops aimed at coping with climate anxiety. Her newest workshop, “Finding Calm in the Storm: A Workshop on Climate Anxiety and Love for Our Planet,” took place Tuesday in collaboration with Dr. Camille Dieterle, an occupational therapist and professor of clinical occupational therapy at the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy.

“We have to come together in groups so that we’re not feeling like [we’re] the only one [experiencing climate anxiety],” Fishel said. “We actually all care, and let’s figure out ways that we can really take a deep dive into how we are living our life. Can we think of ways it is important to us to change how we’re living our lives so that we feel like we’re not contributing to the collapse of the planet?”

For Olivia Heffernan, a junior majoring in environmental studies, her upbringing gardening in her backyard and camping outdoors translated to her interest in environmental issues and eventually led her to join the SC Garden Club, a student organization that manages a community garden at Parkside Arts & Humanities Residential College, where she now serves as co-president. Her field of study requires her to be constantly surrounded by news about environmental issues, which can be overwhelming and cause climate anxiety, she said.

To decompress, Heffernan tries to balance the negative news she sees with positive news. She also surrounds herself with like-minded individuals working towards bettering the environment. Little actions to conserve the planet are more important than trying to be a “perfect environmentalist,” she said.

“Be proud of the little things that you do every day for the Earth,” Heffernan said. “It can get overwhelming when you think there’s nothing that you can do, but I really think that there is something that everyone can do on an individual level.”

Similarly, Matt Slade, a senior majoring in international relations and East Asian languages and cultures, has a passion for hiking and being outdoors. When he came to USC, this passion motivated him to join Peaks & Professors, an organization that plans hikes and other outdoor excursions with student groups and professors. Echoing Heffernan’s sentiments, Slade said that news about climate disasters and government failure to tackle the issue contributes to climate anxiety among his peers.

Apart from serving as president of Peaks & Professors, he focuses on small actions, such as not using single-use plastics and volunteering at urban gardens, to cope with his anxiety. Slade also tries to spend a lot of time outdoors and encourages others to do the same. 

“All outdoor [organizations] at this school and in any other school are really beneficial in that they give everyone a stake in this fight,” Slade said.

Fishel emphasized the importance of recognizing the communal effort necessary to save the planet. Trying to get involved in everything is part of the reason why people tend to get too overwhelmed and burn out. It is important to gather with more people that want to work for similar causes and find in which way to better serve the environment and, above all, the most important thing is to connect with nature, she said.

“If we remember that we love the planet, if we remember that we love the trees and the flowers and elephants and giraffes and bees,” Fishel said. “When we love something we take care of it. That’s what I want us to remember. We have to spend time in the natural world to remember that we love her.”