Welcome friend. You're not alone.
Feeling worry and fear about the climate crisis? You’re not alone. Instead of getting stuck in a sense of powerlessness, we’re supporting each other to transform our eco-anxieties into meaningful action grounded in courage and compassion.
Latest Blogs
Eco-anxious photo voices
One thing I found interesting about the findings of my research was the overlap between encounters leading to mental health impacts of climate change and sources of resilience. Bearing witness to deterioration of places of personal importance was the most frequently cited encounter that lead to mental health impacts while at the same time, spending time in nature was the most common source of resilience. Similarly, consideration of future generations lead participants to experience eco-anxiety, grief and guilt while also bringing feelings of hope for change, action and a better future. The complex web of feelings wrapped up in the experience of eco-anxiety is not easily untangled.
July 8th, 2021Patterns repeating
Are you feeling this change, this urgency, like the trill of cicadas at night, like the roll of distant thunder across the hairs on your arms? Are you feeling the way this world is buzzing, thrilling, electric and on the cusp?
October 14th, 2020Grounding in the time of COVID
Coming hard on the heels of this, COVID19, with its roots in habitat loss and exploitation of animals, adds yet another dimension to my grief in response to the tragedies of human-driven ecological disruptions.
April 20th, 2020
Latest Stories
A mother's eco-anxiety
Being a mother comes with its own unique worries and fears too. The love I have for my daughter is a fierce, protective love that feels instinctive and primal. My happiness and well-being is deeply intertwined with her happiness and well-being. When she cries, I feel it deep in my soul. I worry that we have created a world that will hold much suffering for her and all other children as they grow. Constant fires, deadly heat and storms, droughts, food scarcity, and the conflict and violence that often accompanies instability.
But, to be the mother she deserves, I have to fight those fears and dedicate myself to creating a healthier, sustainable, more just world.
Healthy policy, healthy planet, healthy people
No matter what change you’re able to bring about, it’s going to help someone, and it’s going to help the most vulnerable people.
Making art while the world is burning
The system change we need will not be easy, and it won’t come quickly. It will take all of us, with all the skills and abilities and ideas we each have, for a very long time. And we are not going to get there if we all burn out along with the world as we know it. We are barely at the starting line now. It will at times be frustrating, uncomfortable, and challenging.
And so we need to do the things that humans have always done to find meaning and feel community. We need to make, share, and consume art. We need the artists, both among us and within us, now more than ever.
Latest Resources
The Climate Emergency and Mental Wellness
Update: Video now available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPmvtuYCBAY
Join us on Friday, August 13th from Noon – 1:00 pm for the next “Libraries in the Global Arena: Responding to the Climate Crisis” session as Rachel Malena-Chan presents about the concept of eco-anxiety and a framework for channeling uncomfortable climate emotions into meaningful action.
August 8th, 2021Eco-anxiety reflection guide
What frameworks are useful for making sense of eco-anxiety? Stories are all about grounding information in context. We experience eco-anxiety individually and collectively, but everyone comes from a different context. Learning more about the broader context - the bigger story - can help you identify other characters in the story who may be experiencing these feelings in a different way. We may be used to starting the story with "Who am I in this story?" but it's more important to ask "When am I in this story?"
July 8th, 2021From the Ground Up
Rachel Malena-Chan, co-founder of Eco-Anxious Stories, sat down this past summer with Justin Fisher from Climate Jutice Saskatoon to talk about her research and why she started the Eco-Anxious Stories project.
September 2nd, 2020
Our Mission
Eco-anxiety can make us feel alone but no one can scale a challenge like the climate crisis by themselves. Our mission is to give people the courage, tools, and energy to connect with others and continue the climb together.
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