Surging Eco-Anxiety: Consequences for Global Environmental Politics

Abstract Eco-anxiety is surging as environmental crises escalate. As the ecopsychology literature reveals, the effects and intensity of eco-anxiety vary across cultures, circumstances, and personality types. Eco-anxiety can prompt some people to disengage from environmentalism and can even become a debilitating disorder. Yet, high eco-anxiety also correlates with pro-environmental lifestyle choices, increased participation in environmental collective action, and a spirit of resistance. In this Forum article, we consider the implications of eco-anxiety for global environmental politics (GEP) and argue that it can be harnessed to create positive change. Historically, periods of heightened environmental concern have preceded GEP milestones. Eco-anxiety may now be contributing to a resurgence of youth advocacy, grassroots activism, and direct-action environmentalism. Such trends highlight potentially positive influences of eco-anxiety on GEP, although further research is needed to disentangle the sociocultural dimensions and subemotions of eco-anxiety and determine how these can be productively harnessed within GEP.