As our environmental crises deepen, many people are worried about what the future holds and wonder what we can do to reduce the vulnerability of ourselves and others to these crises.
The terms eco-anxiety and climate resilience are often in this context. On this page we explain these terms and provide some resources for responding to eco-anxiety and building climate resilience.
What is eco-anxiety?
Friends of the Earth describe eco-anxiety as "the negative feelings – including stress, fear, anger and grief – many of us have about climate breakdown, nature loss and the future of our planet." They explain that though the term only emerged relatively recently, its use is widespread, with surveys showing that two-thirds of individuals in the UK are worried about the climate crisis.
In fact, the earliest definition of eco-anxiety was in 2012 when Glenn Albrecht described it as: "the generalized sense that the ecological foundations of existence are in the process of collapse". In 2017, the American Psychological Association defined eco-anxiety as "a chronic fear of environmental doom".
Resources and support on eco-anxiety
- Friends of the Earth have suggestions about how to deal with eco-anxiety, including stories from several nature-loving actors about what they do.
- Greenpeace has collected suggestions from its staff members about how to deal with climate anxiety.
- Borrowed Time is a project of Green Christian that exists to enable people to support each other as they acknowledge their grief and fear over environmental collapse. They run courses to support individuals and specifically for church leaders, pastors and educators.
What is climate resilience?
The Union of Concerned Scientists defines climate resilience as "successfully coping with and managing the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from growing worse." They explain that we're already in a climate crisis, the world is already warming, and "people across the globe face daunting new challenges, on a scale never seen before. To withstand those challenges—and to thrive—we need climate resilience."
This short video explores what climate resilience means.
Resources and support on climate resilience
- The Church of England has produced a video on becoming a Climate Resilient Church.
- Practical Action explains what they are doing to support climate resilience across the world.
- In the video below, Professor Rupert Read, keynote speaker at the Green Christians' Annual Members Meeting and Conference in November 2025, explains why he thinks Christians need to be thinking about resilience.