by Chris Zelglia, for the NINJA COP30 Collaborative Coverage

Exhaustion has become part of political rhetoric.

In the climate debate, it manifests as something urgent. Everyone is exhausted, alarmed, at the limit of their strength, but who has the freedom to allow themselves this fatigue? 

There are bodies that have never had the opportunity to rest. 

While some discuss environmental burnout at international meetings, others experience climate collapse as part of daily life, hunger, lack of shelter, pollution, forced displacement. 

The climate crisis is unequal, just as exhaustion is.

What is considered emotional burnout by some, for others represents the legacy of centuries of exploitation and neglect by the State.

It is in this abyss that the notion of global fatigue reveals its ideological basis, in which it amplifies suffering, but not collective responsibility. 

Not everyone has the possibility of exhausting themselves for the sake of the planet, as not everyone is recognized as beings worthy of care.

Emotional capitalism has transformed collapse into an aesthetic issue. Exhaustion has become a sign of commitment. However, exhausted activism is only viable for the privileged, those who can stop, get sick, get treated, and resume. Traditional communities, Black women, and workers in precarious conditions do not have this symbolic interval.

Climate policies often operate with this lack of emotional perception; they promote global empathy but disregard that environmental degradation and mental strain are distributed according to the world’s racial and economic hierarchy. There are bodies that sustain the lives of others and yet are not recognized as lives that have value. 

Therefore, discussing mental health within the ecological crisis is to address inequality. It is understanding that fatigue is a political issue and that rest is a right denied to many in the name of progress, production, and even sustainability.

We need an ecology of care that considers the unequal weight of the collapse. 

Recognizing that there are overloaded bodies, places, and subjectivities is the first step to creating policies that do not idealize exhaustion, but rather avoid it. 

Protecting those who care — women, riverine communities, indigenous peoples, invisible workers — is the beginning of true climate justice. 

Without the redistribution of the right to rest, we cannot preserve a sustainable planet.

Here are some reflections and possible suggestions: 

Not everyone experiences tiredness in a similar way. 

Fatigue is also a matter of privilege. 

Suggestion: Share with those who discuss climate issues but ignore the corporeal aspect. 

Activism should not lead to self-destruction. 

Taking care of oneself is part of the struggle.

Suggestion: Keep this idea to remember that rest is a political issue. 

Without affective justice, there is no climate justice. 

Caring for the exhausted is caring for the planet. 

Who has the right to rest in their territory?