As a result of climate change, many people are forced to change their lifestyle and abandon long-held knowledge and cultural traditions. Many cultures/groups that have lived off the land for generations find their experience irrelevant. All of this combined makes climate grief more problematic.

Climate Grief: Loss of environmental knowledge/culture

Researchers noted that one common fear was the loss of ecosystems before it actually happened. Many see continued ecological destruction and feel powerless on how to stop it. This amplifies climate grief.

Climate Grief: Anticipated Future Loss

The most obvious cause of climate grief is the loss of ecosystems that people have historically lived in. This can dramatically upend a person's life very quickly, leading to the symptoms of climate grief.

Climate Grief: Loss of Ecosystems

To simplify climate grief studies, researchers have identified 3 common "subtypes" of climate grief. In other words, these are the common sources of climate grief.
- Loss of ecosystems
- Lost of environmental knowledge/culture
- Anticipated future loss

Michigan State University

Although not classified as a specific disorder, some researchers have begun to see that global warming is causing mental health problems for many people, especially those most affected by environmental destruction. This idea has been referred to as "climate grief." Climate grief most often manifests as some form of depression or anxiety.

Climate Grief

Comtesse, H.; Ertl, V.; Hengst, S.M.C.; Rosner, R.; Smid, G.E. Ecological Grief as a Response to Environmental Change: A Mental Health Risk or Functional Response? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 734. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph18020734

Ecological Grief as a Response to Environmental Change A Mental Health Risk or Functional Response

As part of one study, researchers interviewed farmers in Australia and Inuit hunters and fishers. These are people who rely on the land for their survival. Upon interviewing them, researchers found they were experiences feelings of grief and stress. The main stated reasons they described for their grief were the loss of traditions and fear over losing their land and livelihoods.

Effect of Climate Grief on Vulnerable Populations

Interestingly, climate scientists, ecologists, and other similar scientists often report feeling grief as a result of their work and studies. This seems to indicate that the more closely related someone's life is with the environment, the more likely they are to experience climate grief. This holds true for other vulnerable populations as well.

Climate Grief and Scientists

For most people, depressive episodes are temporary. However, because global warming is an ever-present threat and gets worse overtime, treating depression related to climate grief can be very difficult as long as the underlying cause is still present. As a result, climate grief will likely worsen over time. In addition, climate grief can manifest itself in many different ways. To address climate grief, it will likely take a society-wide discussion of the dangers of global warming and finding ways to alleviate it.

Climate Grief Treatment Difficulties

Due to global warming, natural disasters are becoming more prevalent and affecting more people. As such, it is possible that stress-related disorders can become much more common as climate disasters continue.

Potential psychological effects of climate-related disasters

Climate change has many different effects, and as such, creates many different stressors. These include food shortages, losing homes, changing environments, loss of cultural traditions, and more. Therefore, although climate grief has common characteristics, it can vary from person to person. In addition, due to the nature of climate change, we can expect these stressors to get worse overtime.

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