Louise Taylor

In 2018 I applied to do a PhD on the topic of nature and mental health. As an ecotherapist and qualified counsellor I loved spending time in the natural world. I wanted to find out more about how nature could help us therapeutically. As a mother of two and daily dog walker, I visit nature for wellbeing purposes and to keep my hounds happy. I get exercise, I get solitude and I find nature gives me peace like nowhere else.

When I began my research, I believed that being connected to the natural world was only going to have mental health benefits. Three years on and after extensive time spent collecting data and researching the area, I have come to learn that I was wrong.

What I have found is that our young people are suffering and that their relationship with the natural world is very different to the generations above. We seem to be failing both our young people and our natural world because of our greed, ignorance and blind entitlement. This means that their future is in jeopardy. This may seem extreme to some people of my generation and above, but I would implore you to do just the slightest bit of research into the area. I would have thought things weren’t that bad either. I would have also thought talking about the future of the planet being in danger was extreme. That was before I started researching this area. The science is clear. It is saying the future is very precarious.

As a child I used to be scared and worried about nuclear warfare and balaclava’d men. It is common for every generation to have an existential threat and for many in decades gone by, warfare was our biggest global concern. In Northern Ireland, terrorism was also a massive source of fear for children for three decades.

But now the climate crisis is emerging as a massive worry for the younger generations. It was during my interviews with youth climate strikers that I became aware of the issue of eco-anxiety. They told me that eco-anxiety was very real and not enough was being done about it. This is when my findings changed, and I began to dig deeper into the research.

Anxiety is a fear of what is to come, a fear of the future and a fear of the unknown. Eco-anxiety is a fear of our collective future on this planet. There have been points over the last few years where the guilt I have felt for bringing children into a world that disregards science and their future for profit and finance has been overwhelming.

It is well-documented that climate scientists are amongst the most depressed and mentally ill group of researchers because they know we are facing a catastrophe. They told us in 2018 in the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) report that was published and their collective plea was unanimous. They articulated succinctly and strongly that we are facing catastrophe. Yet, our governments ignore the very clear reality because it is inconvenient.

When I meet young people who are engaged with environmental and climate activities, I feel inspired and motivated. I want to help them, and I want them to succeed. I want them to look at this time in history and to think that they were supported, that they were cared for and that their future was valued. Eco-anxiety robs young people of their health and wellbeing now. They are worried about their future and this fear is impacting their present.

I want my children and all children to enjoy their lives. I want them to feel that their future is bright. When suffering from eco-anxiety, the message is very clear: they are terrified of what is to come.

I believe in hope, community, and action. I believe that when you know better, you should do better. So I hope universities, our governments and our communities all come together on this issue. I hope they do it for the future of the planet and everyone on it. I hope Queen’s University declares a climate crisis immediately and show themselves as leaders in this field. They should know better. After all they are the ones teaching us the science and the facts. I hope everyone starts doing better.

Louise Taylor is a third year PhD student researching the relationship between nature and mental health

OPINION - Eco-anxiety Threatens Young People's Futures