Climate Anxiety–or Climate Realism?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 1, 2025

“Climate hypochondriacs deserve to be treated with compassion, much like anyone who suffers from mental illness. They shouldn’t, however, expect everyone else to enable their neuroses.” – Allysia Finley, Wall Street Journal

The futile, wasteful climate crusade has created collateral damage for the cause of the Progressive Left. Their political weapon against ordinary living in a free society has run afoul of ordinary folk, consumer and taxpayer all. And with the government lucre running low or out, and the political forces aligned against them, there is fear, even panic, that their cause is hopeless and unconvincing. “Open for work,” hundreds of climate activists have circled around their names on the business site, LinkedIn.

When the climate movement was at its peak in mid-2022, the faithful knew they were winning political battles but losing the war against carbon dioxide (CO2). Consider Tom Huddleston post, Climate change hopelessness is a real condition—these experts have advice on how to cope.

Here is what Huddleston wrote nearly three years ago (with my comments interspersed):

If you find yourself feeling hopeless whenever you think or read about climate change, don’t worry: There’s a scientific explanation. It’s called climate anxiety, and it’s a real mental health condition that can take time to address, according to Portland, Oregon-based environmental psychologist Thomas Doherty. At the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, on Monday, Doherty spoke about the “learning curve” it takes to combat the anxiety, or even despair, stemming from climate change.

The unnecessary mental health issue of alarmism has a multi-disciplinary cure, but there is a lot of billable hours from ‘climate doctors’ to help a victim cope.

Doherty, who specializes in the intersection of psychology and environmental science, said he often tells clients to try and take a step back from those feelings of hopelessness, which can mean “pulling off of the media, going outside, doing stress reduction, all of these kinds of things.”

He also noted that part of coping means taking the time to accept that as a single person, you can only do so much. “I think the key in coping is making sure that we don’t get stuck on certain feelings, but really growing all of the feelings, which is a process and it takes practice,” he said.

How about some advice to take a walk on the optimistic side, learning the arguments for human betterment from CO2 enrichment? Nope, the mother religion (Deep Ecology) has birthed subdisciplines in psychology and in psychotherapy.

Both the United Nations and the American Psychological Association (APA) have found that humans are increasingly at risk of climate change-induced mental health issues. According to the APA, climate anxiety can manifest in people who respond to the news of climate change developments with “negative emotions including fear, anger, feelings of powerlessness, or exhaustion.”

Those feelings aren’t uncommon: In 2021, a global study found that 45% of people between the ages of 16 and 25 said climate anxiety was affecting their daily lives. The Climate Psychology Alliance even offers a directory of “climate-aware” therapists.

Any CO2/climate optimists in the Climate Psychology Alliance? No, just billable-hour rationalizers.

Doherty argued that those negative emotions aren’t inherently bad, because “we should be able to feel all of our emotions” in a healthy way. Sometimes, he said, it’s helpful to talk through your feelings with other people — whether you’re feeling upset about the environment or charged up about your ability to help.

Okay, so can the distraught be simply directed to such websites as WUWT, Climate Etc., Roger Pielke, Jr or Center for Industrial Progress? Even MasterResource?

“Sometimes, we’re going to be … feeling good and feeling inspired,” he said. “One of the biggest dangers is being alone in the process, because when we’re alone, there’s no one to help us in the down cycle.” Doherty also noted that climate anxiety can be heightened by the sheer volume of negative news on the subject. That’s where people like Alaina Wood — a sustainability scientist, and one of Doherty’s fellow Aspen panelists — come in.

The Heartland Institute can help. So can CFACT. Get out of bed and smell the flowers, the greenery aided by CO2 enrichment, in fact.

At Aspen, Wood said she tries to focus on positives to help viewers address their own climate anxiety, and that it’ll take optimism to mobilize enough people to make a real difference against climate change. She too struggles with climate anxiety, she said, and usually follows a simple process to cope.

“I log off my phone,” Wood said. “I take time to go out in nature, whether that’s in my backyard or in the mountains, and just unwind. And take a second to remind myself why I care, why I’m feeling that way.”

Alaina Wood, don’t log off. Log on. The Internet is an amazing place to learn, and what you might discover might well cheer you up and redirect your passion in a better direction.

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Also see Psychoanalysis on Climate ‘Denial’? (stranger and stranger), April 23, 2025