As evidence of climate change becomes more apparent and the need to act becomes more urgent (IPCC, 2023), a sense of helplessness and powerlessness now filters through many sectors of society. Daily, the news brings new images and headlines about climate-related disasters — devastating storms and floods, disappearing lakes and rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and disappearing biodiversity. With the paralysis and procrastination of world leaders (and worse, outright denial) to act in the face of such urgency, it is no surprise that many are growing increasingly alarmed about the threat to humanity and the perilous state of our planet. Climate anxiety, also known as eco-anxiety, is the distress and fear related to the impacts of climate change on the environment and on future generations. Climate change is a real threat, so it’s normal to feel worried and concerned about its consequences. But worry is not the same thing as anxiety. Many people are worried about climate change, and that’s a good and healthy thing because worry as an emotion is a motivator. If you worry about something, you are motivated to better understand and act to mitigate that worry. Where worry becomes a problem is when it becomes overwhelming and debilitating, when it keeps you from living your life to its full potential. Climate anxiety can have some significant impacts in terms of a person’s mental well-being (Majeed and Lee, 2017; Charlson et al., 2022), and it can also lead to symptoms such as panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability, weakness and sleeplessness (Swim et al., 2010).
Social scientists have contributed to a crucial body of work on how people cope with and psychologically adapt to climate change. Research findings show that climate change anxiety has two distinct effects on individuals: it directly encourages pro-environmental behaviours in some and, indirectly, may have detrimental effects on such action, such as eco-paralysis (Innocenti et al., 2023). A review of 94 studies focused on climate anxiety, involving 170,000 people across 27 countries, explored who it is most likely to affect and what its possible consequences could be (Kühner, 2025). It found that those who are more likely to experience climate anxiety include women, young adults, people with left-wing views, and those expressing concerns about nature or their future. Climate anxiety is increasing among students in higher education and among young people more broadly (Ramadan, 2023). In a study mapping higher education students’ climate anxiety across sustainability-related study fields, results place climate anxiety within a range of emotions, from sadness to hope (Khalaim and Budziszewska, 2024). Most respondents reported a mixture of empowering and paralysing emotional states, but also advised academia to rethink its time economies, prioritise transformative climate action, acknowledge students’ emotional work around sustainability issues, make climate education more humanistic, and include more-than-human-nature in educational spaces.
To better recognise and understand the local specificities of climate anxiety and its current levels in higher education, this research sought to capture how students, undertaking two sustainability-related modules at the University of Galway, feel about climate change, when their worry or anxiety spikes and what coping mechanisms they use when they experience such concerns. Although not extensive in nature and using a convenience sampling method, responses from 109 first-year and final-year undergraduate students were recieved and analysed. The student responses to these three questions are presented here in graphical form:
When asked whether they felt anxious about climate change, over 96% reported some level of anxiety, with the majority (70.6%) feeling anxious some of the time (Figure 1). Less than 4% reported no anxiety about climate change. When asked to indicate when such anxiety spiked, a wide range of triggers were suggested (Figure 2). The highest response (21.1%) was when students thought about their future, followed by extreme weather events and hearing about species extinction. In terms of what helps them alleviate worry and anxiety about climate change, the biggest response was ‘being more sustainable in their own lives’ (44%), followed by ‘distracting themselves with humour or entertainment’ (Figure 3).
Researchers are increasingly trying to better understand both the emotions we experience in response to ecological crises such as climate change and how these emotions may be harmful or beneficial to our overall well-being. As indicated earlier and found in this study, climate activism and personal pro-environmental behavioural change can be positive outcomes of genuine apprehension and anxiety over climate change. But the role of educators is crucial in providing the space and time to discuss students’ concerns and real fears, while also equipping them with the tools and know-how to develop tangible, transformative climate action strategies in their personal lives and in the wider community. There is also an urgent need to communicate effective coping strategies for climate anxiety to environmental practitioners, university students, and educators (Daeninck et al., 2023). Greta Thunberg’s climate activism, which was borne out of her depression and urge to make a difference in the world, is an example of the positive outcomes climate anxiety can have (Borter, 2019).
References
- American Psychological Association (APA). (2010). Psychology and Global Climate Change: Addressing a Multi-faceted Phenomenon and Set of Challenges. APA, [available at https://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-change.pdf].
- Borter, G. (2019). Rising seas and stress levels spawn climate anxiety support groups. Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-eco-anxiety-idUSKBN1X21P2.
- Charlson, F., Ali, S., Augustinavicius, J., Benmarhnia, T., Birch, S., Clayton, S., Fielding, K., Jones, L., Juma, D., Snider, L. and Ugo, V. (2022). Global priorities for climate change and mental health research. Environment International, 158, p.106984.
- Daeninck, C., Kioupi, V. and Vercammen, A. (2023). Climate anxiety, coping strategies and planning for the future in environmental degree students in the UK. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, p.1126031.
- Khalaim, O. and Budziszewska, M. (2024). “It should not only be technical education.” Students’ climate anxiety experiences and expectations toward university education in three European universities. The Journal of Environmental Education, 55(4), pp.308-323.
- Kühner, C., Gemmecke, C., Hüffmeier, J. and Zacher, H. (2025). Climate change anxiety: A meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change, 93, p.103015.
- IPCC. (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland
- Innocenti, M., Santarelli, G., Lombardi, G.S., Ciabini, L., Zjalic, D., Di Russo, M. and Cadeddu, C. (2023). How can climate change anxiety induce both pro-environmental behaviours and eco-paralysis? The mediating role of general self-efficacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), p.3085 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3085
- Majeed, H. and Lee, J. (2017). The impact of climate change on youth depression and mental health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(3), pp.e94-e95.
- Ramadan, R., Randell, A., Lavoie, S., Gao, C.X., Manrique, P.C., Anderson, R., McDowell, C. and Zbukvic, I. (2023). Empirical evidence for climate concerns, negative emotions and climate‐related mental ill‐health in young people: A scoping review. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 17(6), pp. 537-563.
- Swim, J., Clayton, S., Doherty, T., Gifford, R., Howard, G., Reser, J., Stern, P. and Weber, E. (2010). Psychology and global climate change: Addressing a multi-faceted phenomenon and set of challenges. A report by the American Psychological Association’s task force on the interface between psychology and global climate change. American Psychological Association, Washington, 66, pp.241-250.