5 Ways To Keep Your Eco-Anxiety In Check

To support the running costs of Moral Fibres, this post contains affiliate links. This means Moral Fibres may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to readers, on items purchased through these links.

Is eco-anxiety keeping you awake at night? Here are my best tips to help keep your anxiety in check.

For those interested in green living it can be challenging at the best of times to keep your morale up. There’s always a bad news story about climate change doing the rounds.

Sometimes there are good news stories about climate change, but you really have to seek these out. But the bad ones? It feels like these are in your face as soon as you pick up your phone. And sometimes it feels like although you’ve made some environmentally friendly changes in your life, that’s just not enough. Eco-anxiety is a very real condition.

So how do you deal with climate change-induced anxiety? As someone who has made sustainability my career, and been immersed in all things climate change since I started university way back in 1999, I’ve got some useful tips up my sleeve.

How To Keep Your Eco-Anxiety In Check

Collection of house plants on a window ledge, with a blue text box that reads top tips to help keep your eco-anxiety at bay.

Use the quick links to jump to a specific tip, or keep scrolling for the full post:

Stay Informed, But Set Boundaries

I like to stay informed about environmental issues. However, I’ve found that constant exposure to distressing news can definitely exacerbate my anxiety. Instead, I try to set boundaries for myself by limiting my media consumption – particularly on social media. I also look for reliable news sources that offer balanced perspectives.

I also find that seeking out sites that focus on good news climate and environment stories, such as Positive News, can help provide a useful counterbalance. If I’m feeling anxious, I make a cup of tea and have a read for 20 minutes. I find that I always come away feeling energised that there is good in the world.

Work Out What Matters To You

It can be tricky to keep your eco-anxiety in check when green living has so many grey areas.

You could spend hours at the supermarket trying to decide if locally grown fruit packaged in plastic is better or worse than an organic and plastic-free mango flown in from Mexico.

The same goes for trying to decide which is best – natural fibres versus synthetic vegan fibres – when both have their impacts.

Because of this, you can constantly feel like you’re not doing enough, or what you’re doing isn’t good enough.

Yet, there is zero black and white. In fact, Jen Gale, the writer behind Sustainable(ish) describes it as “50 Shades of Green“. It’s impossible to do everything. And as Jen describes it: “We’ll probably be different shades of green in different areas of our lives – whether we’re rocking it with our diet, but not so great at transport. Or maybe we’re prioritising reducing plastic right now, or food waste, or something else.”

In short, work out what matters most to you. It might be adopting a more plant-based diet. It might be avoiding flying where possible. You might want to try cutting down on plastic waste. Or you might want to try buying less.

Whatever you do, know that it’s impossible to do it all – eco-perfection is a myth after all – so pick one area and go with that. You’ll feel less overwhelmed and far less frazzled.

Keep Things In Perspective

Instead of obsessing over the things I don’t do so well at, I like to remind myself of the things I do well at. It certainly 100% improves my eco-anxiety when I know I can’t possibly be THE best at every single aspect of green living, but I can do MY best specific to MY individual circumstances. That’s what keeps me going. Knowing I’m doing what I can, and that where and when I can do more, I will.

However, keep in mind that individual actions aren’t the be-all and end-all. Climate change writer Mary Annaïse Heglar has written a magnificent essay on why you should stop obsessing over your environmental “sins” and fight the oil and gas industry instead.

In it, Mary writes “The belief that this enormous, existential problem could have been fixed if all of us had just tweaked our consumptive habits is not only preposterous; it’s dangerous. It turns environmentalism into an individual choice defined as sin or virtue, convicting those who don’t or can’t uphold these ethics. When you consider that the same IPCC report outlined that the vast majority of global greenhouse gas emissions come from just a handful of corporations — aided and abetted by the world’s most powerful governments, including the US — it’s victim blaming, plain and simple.”

I find keeping this in mind helps to keep things in perspective.

Engage in Community Activism

We can’t solve the climate change crisis as individuals, so I also recommend getting involved with a local environmental charity or community climate change projects that align with your values.

I’ve found that working or volunteering alongside like-minded individuals towards a common goal can be empowering and fulfilling. Plus, real change often stems from collective action. By joining forces with others who are passionate about protecting the environment means that you can amplify your impact and inspire meaningful change on a larger scale.

Seek Support If You’re Still Struggling

If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, no matter what you do, then it’s important to reach out for help. Whether you reach out to friends, family, a therapist, or support groups who share your concerns about the environment, having a support network can provide comfort and validation, and help you find ways to cope.

What are your thoughts on eco-anxiety? How do you keep yours in check?

Found this post useful? Please consider buying me a virtual coffee to help support the site’s running costs.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Join The Mailing List

Be part of the community and get all the latest articles, news and tips on green living from Moral Fibres straight to your inbox, once a month, free of charge.