Eco-anxiety and How to Cope

A quick disclaimer to this piece. It was originally edited and published in the People Daily a local paper in Kenya. So this is a republishing of the same. However, I will add the unedited version. Looking forward to your comments.

Cheers

Question; Is climate change in the reproductive health conversation? i.e., how many people/couples who have or are planning to have progeny consider climate change/climate variability a factor for family planning? Yes, I realize that some of the more common things to consider are where you leave, access to green spaces, the drainage and sewerage systems, access to water… etc. But I am thinking more along the lines of the existential dread that offspring is brought forth to a world having “once in lifetime” events more frequently. Imagine, a child born during 2020/2021 where there has been a locust invasion or suppressed rains that farmers may not enjoy their normal harvest and therefore the threat to the nation’s food security. Or raising a child in a Nairobi that is morphing into an oven, occasioned by the wanton felling of trees and (what feels like) the growing of skyscrapers, killing natural light and airflow, increasing the child’s susceptibility to pulmonary attacks. Maybe a tone down of the drama… maybe something more practical, right? Journey with me to 2015. Allow me to preface, between 2011–2014, every May, Nairobi would get floods like prescribed medication. But 2014 stands out because I had just started working, and on this day, my grandma came to spend a night before she embarked on her rural sojourn. It had been raining fairly heavily for two days at this point -this was normal for Nairobi — but on this particular day, the heavens opened the floodgates. A section of the estate’s perimeter wall collapsed under the weight of the water that had been accumulating along the outside of the wall. Water gashed in, and consequently flooded some houses in the estate, including ours. Some houses were worse hit than others. This happened just after the 9 pm news as we were all getting ready for bed. As the water sipped into the house, I could see the dread plastered on my grandma’s face. I had to stay up monitoring the water levels and ensuring that all valuables are away from the water. What a night!!! I know my experience was not unique, some children spent the night on a school bus, because the road was flooded and the bus could not move. These stories became the norm, unfortunately.

This is what climate change is, just a disruption of the system and now decisions are made based on the trauma caused by such events. If you are to ask anyone old to remember the El Nino 97/98, you will have narratives of children going to school on boats. Switch the question and ask about La Nina, it will be how someone might have missed school because of drought and famine. Such events are imprinted on someone’s psyche. So much so, that a lightning strike, thunderstorm, or prolonged sun triggers a particular reaction. This katzenjammer of emotions has been described as eco-anxiety. Eco-anxiety is the anxiety that comes with extreme weather events or loss of biodiversity. It has also been linked to specific ecological disasters a la El Nino. While the verdict is still out on if it’s a medical condition, one thing is true it is a rational feeling. I know, subconsciously whenever it rains I check the estate perimeter wall if it is showing any kinks, and I start unblocking the drainage, even though they are maintained weekly. While I understand the vagaries of nature, I still would not want to experience another flooding, and this goes for many people. If you ask anyone who has experienced the wrath of River Kawalasee in Turkana, they will warn you against crossing after it has rained, or those who experienced the Tsunami of 2004/5 still dread staying near a beach. These emotions have shaped us, and these emotions have been brought about by climate change.

How do we deal?

Like most disorders, eco-anxiety does not have a magic pill. However, I may have some suggestions that may help.

1. Let us talk and learn — I am a firm believer in speaking it out, and in a matter as climate change, the information around it can be vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose (haha!). However, we must collect stories of how it was, how it is, how it makes you feel and why it is happening. In the process learning from peers and elders alike, consequently passing on the message of environmentalism.
2. Let us get involved — I know many local initiatives to conserve the environment happen almost weekly. There is a local clean-up or tree planting exercise that needs volunteers and I urge you to get involved. While it might not feel like much, it is much. By getting involved, you can start changing unsustainable habits -like using single-use plastics — and think more sustainable. By getting involved you ensure that your local environment can withstand — to a point- the now frequent “once in a lifetime” events thereby protecting your assets. Get involved, and if there is nothing to plug into, start something, you will get collaborators along the way.
3. Be romantic — One of my favorite memories was in Nabkoi forest (during my industrial attachment), where, while supervising forest workers, I took my break in the thick canopy of the forest, and out of nowhere this magnificent dik-dik galavanted across my person in such an unassuming manner. I was in awe! I have always wanted people to experience nature as I experienced it that day so that we have such an ethereal connection with nature. So I implore you, go out and experience. Don’t exploit, experience, and then come paint a picture a Yamato-e. The world is crazy, and climate change will make it even crazier, but do not despair, because we have hope! Go ye out and care for nature. As Lorax pointed out,

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not”

Till next time