The sudden changes in our environment and the devastation of the natural world are generating new forms of psychological distress: solastalgia.
It was not since the Pliocene, between 2.5 and 5.2 million years ago, that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had been this high; the oceans are increasingly acidic and inhospitable, we are in the midst of the planet's sixth mass extinction, and within just thirty years most terrestrial ecosystems, from the Amazon to the Arctic, will collapse, triggering catastrophic socioeconomic upheaval. If you feel saddened by the ongoing environmental devastation, sense an unbridgeable feeling of loss, and feel powerless in the face of the decline of the world as we know it, there is a word to describe your (our) state of mind: solastalgia.
The term solastalgia, a combination of the Latin word solacium (comfort) and the Greek root –algia (pain), is a neologism coined in 2003 by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht and refers to the feeling of homesickness experienced for a place despite continuing to live there. This particular emotional state manifests when one's environment is altered by sudden changes beyond our control. "It's a type of homesickness or melancholy that you feel when you are at home and your home environment is changing around you in ways that you find deeply negative," Albrecht explained; he devised the term to describe the harmful effects that the coal extraction boom had on the inhabitants of the Upper Hunter Valley, in Australia.
Solastalgia is therefore closely linked to our time — the Anthropocene, an era defined by humanity's enormous impact on the planet — and to climate change, which is a consequence of that irresponsible impact. Climate shifts are not only altering the physical environment in which we live; they also have concrete effects on our mental health. Extreme weather events, such as storms, floods or heatwaves, can cause and intensify stress and anxiety, and can lead to depression and anger.
According to the Australian philosopher, solastalgia generates emotional states similar to those experienced by people deported from their own land. "Australian Aboriginals, the Navajo, and any indigenous population have felt this sense of pain and disorientation after being displaced from their land," Albrecht stated; he discovered that this "place pathology" is not confined to indigenous peoples. The inhabitants of the Upper Hunter Valley were anxious, restless, desperate, depressed — exactly as if they had been forcibly removed from the valley — yet that had not happened: it was the valley that had changed around them. Solastalgia does not, however, only affect people living near mines, fracking sites, or in areas struck by oil spills or extreme weather events. It is a global condition, felt to a greater or lesser degree by different people in different places, but increasingly widespread, given the relentless degradation of the environment.
The symptoms of solastalgia can be both short- and long-term, acute and chronic, highlighting the close relationship between ecosystem health and human health. They include feelings of grief, nostalgia, stress, alienation, depression, anxiety, a sense of loss, sleep disturbances, suicidal impulses and increased aggression, and can often be long-lasting. Chronic distress can weaken the immune system, making people more vulnerable to numerous physical ailments. Solastalgia also complicates interpersonal relationships by undermining the cohesion of family units and communities. One's home and surrounding environment are at the heart of social relationships, and when they are damaged, those relationships too tend to suffer.
Solastalgia can therefore affect anyone, yet there are groups of people who are particularly vulnerable, such as children and the elderly. Children who are victims of extreme weather events are potentially predisposed to future psychological disorders. Young people also appear to be more engaged and more concerned about climate change than adults, as evidenced by the youth climate demonstrations taking place across the planet. Many young people, according to numerous surveys, express worry, fear and anxiety about the impact global warming will have on their lives and believe the world could end within their lifetime.
Also at risk are people who have a particularly close bond with the land, such as tribal communities and farmers. The identity of these people is connected both to the physical characteristics of the land and to their use and knowledge of it. The loss of this local and traditional knowledge can be a key factor in the onset of ecological grief. Some Australian Aboriginal communities have reported losing confidence in the seasonal rhythms of the weather and in their ability to understand it, associating this loss of confidence with anxiety about their long-term future.
The correlation between the destruction of the natural world and the onset of psychological problems, though a relatively recent phenomenon, has already been extensively studied and demonstrated by science. In 2007, a study conducted on children aged between 10 and 14 found that half of those surveyed were deeply worried about global warming. A more recent study demonstrated that 45 per cent of children suffer from lasting depression after surviving extreme weather events and natural disasters. Research on a group of Aboriginal people in New South Wales revealed that prolonged drought had negatively affected their social and emotional wellbeing, exacerbating pre-existing socioeconomic disadvantages.
Analysis of a sample of people living in the areas struck by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the United States in August 2005, showed that the suicide rate more than doubled and 49 per cent of people developed psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. In the aftermath of disasters, according to a 2011 study, increased stress can also make people more prone to adopting behaviours that have a negative impact on their health, such as smoking and poor dietary habits.
In 2017, the American Psychological Association published the report Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications and Guidance, with the specific aim of drawing attention to the various psychological impacts linked to climate change.
Solastalgia can paralyse us and heighten our sense of helplessness, or it can be the catalyst for reacting and trying to reverse the trend. This is the case of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who gave rise to the largest climate movement in history. When Greta first learned of the ongoing environmental crisis, at the age of eight, she was left literally shocked. At eleven she stopped speaking and eating, and was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder and selective mutism. But rather than letting herself be overwhelmed by the scale of the climate crisis and continuing to live as if nothing were wrong, as most of us do, Greta decided to act, because "no one is too small to make a difference".
If you believe you are experiencing solastalgia, it is a good sign — it means you are aware of the extremely serious threat that humanity must face. Ours, let us not forget, is an animal species, and as such has an intrinsic relationship with the natural world and its cycles. That relationship has broken down, however, and the consequences are plain to see and echo in our minds. "Separated from his roots, man loses his psychic stability," wrote Elyne Mitchell in 1946, in the book Soil and Civilisation.