By Marlene Amorim & Mariana Pinho
Climate change is not only transforming landscapes, ecosystems and economies. It is also changing how people feel. As wildfires, droughts, heatwaves and floods become increasingly present in everyday life, researchers are paying growing attention to “climate anxiety” — the emotional and psychological response to the threats posed by a changing climate.
But how widespread is climate anxiety? And does worrying about climate change necessarily prevent people from acting — or could it sometimes encourage action?
In the recent study conducted by the researcher Mariana Pinho, from the University of Aveiro, provides one of the most comprehensive portraits of climate anxiety among Portuguese adults. Based on a nationally representative sample of 3,300 individuals, the research explored not only how much climate anxiety people experience, but also who experiences it most and how it relates to pro-environmental behaviour.
Climate anxiety exists — but it is not equally distributed
One of the study’s first findings is perhaps surprising: overall, “climate anxiety among Portuguese adults is relatively low”.
Yet averages do not tell the whole story.
Younger people tend to experience greater climate anxiety than older people. Education and income also matter, with lower levels of both associated with higher levels of climate anxiety.
Perhaps even more tellingly, anxiety increases when climate change stops being an abstract idea and becomes a lived experience. People who had experienced climate-related events and their impacts more directly reported greater levels of climate anxiety.
This is particularly relevant in a country increasingly exposed to heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, flooding and other climate-related risks, that are becoming a comment concerns In Europe.
Is climate anxiety always a bad thing?
One of the most thought-provoking findings concerns the relationship between anxiety and action.
Climate anxiety is understandably discussed as a mental health concern. Excessive anxiety can affect wellbeing and people’s ability to function. But the study suggests that the relationship is more complex.
People’s perceptions of climate change were associated with greater conservation behaviour, and “climate anxiety played a role in this relationship”.
In other words, some level of emotional concern about climate change may not simply produce distress. It can also be part of the psychological process that moves people from recognising the problem to doing something about it.
This distinction matters. The challenge may therefore not be to eliminate climate concern, but to prevent it from becoming overwhelming while creating opportunities for people to transform concern into meaningful action.
From anxiety to agency
The findings also carry an important message for climate communication and public policy.
A single message will not affect everyone in the same way. Age, socioeconomic conditions and direct experience of climate impacts shape how people respond psychologically to climate change. Climate communication therefore needs to recognise these differences rather than treating “the public” as a homogeneous group.
The study also points towards a broader question for climate education and communication: “how can we inform people about the seriousness of climate change without creating paralysis?”
Perhaps the goal should not be a society that feels no climate anxiety at all. Concern is, after all, a reasonable response to a real threat.
To read more about the research work you can find the full article at:
https://www.emerald.com/srj/article/21/10/2304/1297650/Climate-change-anxiety-a-portrait-of-Portugal