An Overview of the Effects of Climate Change and Eco-Degradation Through the Lens of Solastalgia in Select Novels

Climate change due to the earth’s warming, carbon emissions, overfishing, pollution, and flowing populations has worsened the livelihood of lifeforms in recent times. Anthropocene’s over-exploitation is the major cause of environmental collapse. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and several climate mitigation and environmental policies urge humans to control and combat with climate crisis and to wisely act upon the conservation of nature. The selected works for the study include; The Overstory by Richard Powers, Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins, and The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde in the form of deforestation, extreme drought, and marine ecosystem depletion respectively, these works poignantly express the species extinction, ecological distress, survival angst. Solastalgia is one among the eco-psychological affect theories, which is based on the expression of the grief felt while remaining in a changing environment, especially one impacted by environmental degradation or climate change. Climate change intensifies solastalgia as more people witness extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, rising sea levels, and other transformations to landscapes that were once stable and comforting. This proposed research paper overviews ecological degradation due to the effects of climate change in select novels from the perspective of solastalgia.