Tag: Eco-anxiety

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GoGreenRoutes Conference on Climate Change and Mental Health: Reflections on Eco-Anxiety

Author : Eamon Callan is a second-year psychological studies student (Maynooth University) and was a SPUR  intern on the GoGreenRoutes project during the Summer of 2023.
GoGreenRoutes Logo

Our Green Campus hosted excellent researchers and practitioners once again, for this the fourth GoGreenRoutes H2020 project event held at Maynooth University, this time held in partnership with Mental Health Ireland. This week was most apt for the launch of our Autumn School, with World Mental Health Day (10th Oct.), marked by the launch of the EU Comprehensive Action Plan for Mental Health, and budget day in Ireland (Oct. 11th), (with an investment of €3.1 Billon in the new climate action fund).

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The Psychology of Climate Change: T(h)ree Thoughts on Eco Anxiety

Social Structures

Authors: Dr Tadhg MacIntyre, Assistant Professor, Maynooth University (MU) Department of Psychology, Scientific Coordinator of the H2020 Project GoGreenRoutes, Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL), and Dr Annalisa Setti, University College Cork (UCC), Member of GoGreenRoutes’ Advisory Board.

Left to Right profile pictures of Tadhg McIntyre and Annalisa Setti
Tadhg McIntyre and Annalisa Setti

“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it”, Barack Obama, 43rd President of the United States.

In this blog, Dr Tadhg MacIntyre (MU) and Dr Annalisa Setti (UCC) outline some of the known and unknown impacts of climate change on mental health.

1. Known Knowns: Climate Change Solutions

Climate change has consequences for our mental health in both the short-term (e.g. extreme climatic events) and long-term (e.g. existential threat), ranging from trauma to anxiety. How we cope with the challenge of climate change has implications for our ability to generate, engage with and promote solutions. Getting a handle on what some term the climate ‘emergency’ should be seen in the context of how we cope with other interlinked issues – all of which can potentially benefit from our attempts to mitigate climate change impacts. Biodiversity loss, obesity, sedentary behaviour, isolation and nature disconnection are not entirely unrelated from climate change issues.

Continue reading “The Psychology of Climate Change: T(h)ree Thoughts on Eco Anxiety”
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