Ecological Anxiety as a Social Symptom
Eco-anxiety is not individual. It is the collective symptom of a planet in collapse.
by Chris Zelglia
hey claim that we are awaiting the end of the world.
However, what the planet may be demonstrating is the unease of a way of life that has reached its limit.
The so-called environmental anxiety, this vague fear in the face of climate collapse, has been considered a personal issue, something to be controlled through meditation, self-care, and breathing apps.
Yet, this concern does not arise out of nowhere.
It is a reflection of an era where the future has become a commodity and the planet, an algorithm.
Environmental anxiety is not just about the fear of disaster.
It is a perception, even if unconscious, that we inhabit a system that is destroying the world to keep itself running and that still refers to this as progress.
Environmental anxiety is not a psychic disorder, it is a collective awakening to an unsustainable system.
When capitalism promises ecological alternatives, what it offers is a form of anesthesia.
The fear of collapse is exchanged for a display of individual hope: plant a tree, buy less, breathe deeply. However, the anxiety does not disappear; it merely changes its appearance.
Psychoanalysis teaches us that the symptom expresses something.
Environmental anxiety reveals the state of a generation that cannot visualize the future, that grew up hearing that the planet is on the verge of its end, and that has learned to carry the burden of a guilt that does not belong to them alone.
This anguish should not be treated with optimistic speeches, but heard as a social outcry. A plea for structural change, not for a mood adjustment.
Feeling apprehension about the planet is an act of political sensibility, the problem arises when the system persuades us to believe that this is an individual matter.
We need to convert environmental anxiety into ecological action.
Recognizing fear as part of the collective awakening is the first step to breaking the paralysis and establishing new forms of hope, not an empty optimism, but a hope that acts.
The mental health of the planet depends on understanding what this anxiety has to say: it is no longer possible to live like this.
