How do we navigate eco-anxiety as an idea and as a feeling? Is it one thing or many things? Thomas and Panu talk about eco-anxiety, or “ympäristöahdistus” in Finnish, as a primal emotion, as a feeling we can describe in various languages, as a cultural idea, and as a psychiatric diagnosis. They give a history of the concept of eco- or environmental anxiety in psychology research and in pop culture. Eco-anxiety predates concerns about the climate crisis to take in the Rachel’s Carson’s warnings in “Silent Spring” about human-made chemicals in the ecosystem and global anxiety about nuclear destruction felt during the cold war. Eco-anxiety is a practical emotion, and it can be debilitating at times. You are not alone with this.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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