Climate anxiety is about more than just personal risks

The Earth’s climate is changing with devastating consequences, leading many people across the world to worry1. For some people, these worries turn into climate anxiety: pervasive and difficult-to-control worries about the climate, accompanied by complaints such as tension and trouble sleeping2. In a recent Comment, Fyke and Weaver3 argue that, instead of addressing the symptoms of climate anxiety by psychological coping, individuals should focus on taking away the root causes of their climate anxiety. Fyke and Weaver suggest that these root causes are people’s worries about personal impacts of climate change on themselves and their loved ones, and that the solution to reducing climate anxiety therefore lies in implementing adaptation measures to reduce or avoid these personal climate change impacts.

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  1. Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

    Anne M. van Valkengoed & Linda Steg

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  1. Anne M. van Valkengoed
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  2. Linda Steg
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Anne M. van Valkengoed.

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van Valkengoed, A.M., Steg, L. Climate anxiety is about more than just personal risks.
Nat. Clim. Chang. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01718-0

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  • Published: 29 June 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01718-0

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