
Climate Change and Mental Health
A recent report offers recommendations for building the field of psychology to better support people through climate crises
Rising seas, monster storms, hotter summers, growing aridity: as if the environmental effects of climate change aren’t bad enough, the climate crisis is also a disaster for human health and well-being. Researchers have seen a rise in climate grief, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and depression, as well as rising interpersonal aggression and violence, impaired cognitive and brain function, premature births and low birth weight. The list goes on.
“Over just the past couple of years we’ve seen a rapid and much-needed shift in the recognition of the massive mental-health implications that climate change poses,” says Ezra Markowitz, professor of environmental conservation at UMass Amherst. “Policymakers, mental health organizations, the medical profession and even the general public are increasingly aware of the toll climate change takes on our health. But much more can and needs to be done to prepare. We’re already seeing these impacts and they are compounding...