How do you feel about climate change?

What is good about being out in nature?

What are the implications of global warming for pastoral care?

As we witness the many ways the Earth has been exploited and damaged, how do we hold space for the sorrow, anger, and guilt we may feel?

These and lots more fascinating questions come under the ‘Wellbeing Hauora’ umbrella. How people think and feel about what is happening to our world is the fastest growing area of psychological research. Eco anxiety is being acknowledged as a major source of distress - it can either lead to motivation to change or it can paralyse people in fear and depression.

Resources on Wellbeing Hauora:

A Rocha’s Hope Seminar, Christchurch, September 2021 on the theme of Shalom: Wellbeing and Climate Change. With input from:

• Peter Carrell, ​Bishop of Christchurch

• Kahurangi Carter, Co-ordinator for Para Kore zero waste organisation

• Michael Apathy, psychotherapist at Lucid Psychotherapy in Christchurch & climate activist with Extinction Rebellion

• Kristel van Houte, National Director of A Rocha Aotearoa NZ and the Karioi Project

• Silvia Purdie, Convenor for A Rocha Christchurch local group and Place Sustainability Consultant.

Climate Change and Mental Health webinar by A Rocha Christchurch local group convenor, Silvia Purdie.

A Rocha blogpost: Is being a despairing Christian an oxymoron? Some lessons from Elijah

A Rocha blogpost: Counting the cost: the emotional toll of environmental campaigning

Christian Hope, Eco-anxiety and Climate Activism - by Cate Williams. For an eco-activist to continue to work for the wellbeing of all-creation, they need to have hope that their efforts are worthwhile. Hope is critical, to provide energy and momentum to the work, and to counter eco-anxiety and burnout. It explores, within the complexity of religiously plural partnerships, the place of hope in sustaining activists. Particular reference is made to how Christian hope can offer resources not just to Christians but also to the wider community of activists. Cate Williams is the Environmental Engagement Officer for Gloucester Diocese and has been involved with Eco Church in the UK. In addition, she is the author of the Grove booklet on Forest Church, and facilitator of both a local Forest Church and a community conservation volunteering group.

Eco-anxiety: The psychological and spiritual toll of the environmental crisis - A short blog entry on the A Rocha Blogs by Panu Pihkala. His interdisciplinary research deals with the psychological and spiritual dimensions related to environmental issues and especially climate change. Pihkala has become known as an expert in eco-anxiety.

Climate grief: How we mourn a changing planet - Another article by Panu Pihkala. From a collection of articles from the BBC exploring ‘Climate Emotions’.

Climate anxiety and the Church - A blogpost by Helen Stephens, Church Relations Manager for Eco Church, A Rocha UK.

Climate grief and pastoral care: Processing grief for the planet - This webinar recorded in May 2021 by A Rocha UK includes thoughts and reflections to help us explore topics of grief, lament and hope in relation to the climate crisis and loss of nature. A resource pack on Climate Grief and Pastoral Care is also available from Climate Sunday - it includes how to host a service on this theme.

Living with Climate-grief and Eco-anxiety with Deborah Tomkins - Hosted by Green Christian, who are developing resources to help Christians and churches deal with the deep emotional responses to the climate and ecological emergencies.

A Rocha Talks - Alone in a World of Wounds: Living with Ecological Grief - Hosted by A Rocha Canada. This panel explores the lived experience of ecological grief and seeks to foster conversation on how we might engage in this grief in ways that promote sustainability and wellbeing as humans who care for Creation.

Ecological Grief and Exploring Hope: A Panel Discussion - The discussion is moderated by Kari Miller, Environmental Education Coordinator with A Rocha Manitoba. Ecological grief is one of the ways of acknowledging and mourning the land, people, plants, and animals which we have lost to climate change. Lament is a powerful communal act that helps us acknowledge sorrow and leads us away from despair. Ultimately, lament is a profoundly hopeful act that provides us with a way forward, knowing that change is possible through new ways of being and faith in the God of Creation. Through taking the time to mourn the earth, we step forward in hope and action towards restoration and new life, for the land and for ourselves as human beings.

Turning Eco-Anxiety into Eco-Action - Hosted by the National History Museum, exploring why we feel the way we do about the climate crisis, and how to turn ecological grief into determination to make positive change for the future of our planet.

Eco-anxiety is a normal response to disaster. Denial isn’t the answer - By Shanti Mathias from The Spinoff. In a reality shaped by climate crisis, the article explores how to think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair. One point noted was: “that acting towards hope is about changing the narrative of climate crisis.“

On that same note, The Guardian featured a Long Read on: ‘If you win the popular imagination, you change the game’: why we need new stories on climate - “So much is happening, both wonderful and terrible – and it matters how we tell it. We can’t erase the bad news, but to ignore the good is the route to indifference or despair.”

Resources to Cope With Climate Anxiety and Grief - From The Commons Social Change Library.

Young People's Voices on Climate Anxiety, Government Betrayal and Moral Injury: A Global Phenomenon - Climate change has significant implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to increased climate anxiety. Qualitative studies show climate anxiety is associated with perceptions of inadequate action by adults and governments, feelings of betrayal, abandonment and moral injury. This study offers the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship to government response. 10,000 young people (aged 16-25 years) in ten countries were surveyed. Data were collected on their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and government response.

Three types of hope: Combating environmental hopelessness and fatigue - Environmental biologist Martin Hodson suggests there are three types of hope to sustain us in our efforts to avert environmental catastrophe.

HOPE. ALL IS NOT LOST. The Hope Project, a video seminar by Dr Rebecca Dudley on the ‘psychological first aid’ we need to deal with the trauma of the present moment.

A special edition of the theology journal ANVIL on the topic of “Environment and Hope“, with guest editors, Rev. Margot Hodson and Dr Martin Hodson. All of the papers are open access and are free to download.

Relevant Eco Church stories