Here’s how to turn your anxiety about climate change into action

Imagine something you love. Then imagine that it is threatened.

This is what Jada Alexander experienced while exploring coral reefs in French Polynesia. On her first trip as a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she was captivated. “The coral reef was teeming with life. It was beautiful,” he recalls. It was bustling with life, full of crabs and fish.

However, on the return trip a year later, much of the reef appeared dead. “It was boring and gray,” she says, which made her feel hopeless.

Alexander is not alone. Data from the survey showed that more than half of young adults feel anxious, angry, powerless or helpless about human-caused climate change.

“If our young people can’t have hope and engage in climate action, it will be much harder for us to bend the curve,” says Elissa Epel, a renowned stress researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

So she and a group of her colleagues developed a new course called Climate Resilience, which they offered for the first time on several University of California campuses last spring. The goal is to turn students’ climate concerns into collective action. Alexander signed up for classes and became a teacher’s assistant.

The course offers inspiring lectures from scientists and leaders of the climate movement designed to introduce a counter-narrative to doom and gloom. Many of us live in an “information bubble” that can be devastating, says Epel. We are inundated with negative stories about record heat, hurricanes, floods and wildfires. The challenge is real, but so are the potential solutions.

Most importantly, the course teaches resilience and coping skills, including mindfulness meditation, to empower students.

“There is a process — or process — to bring people out of these dark, inner worlds where they feel alone and disconnected,” Epel says.

People who feel negative and hopeless are more likely to break up or leave.

“The great Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh says the way out is within,” he says. To overcome fear and anger, people must practice compassion not only for themselves but also for others.

“Students are actually very skeptical,” says Jyoti Mishra, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego and co-director of the course. However, at the end of the classes, there is a noticeable change in the way of thinking of many people, he says. When a person feels more positive, it will be easier for them to imagine that they are part of the solution.

End-of-class surveys were very positive, and the course will be offered at 10 University of California campuses next spring.

Students reported an increased sense of belonging and a belief that they could “work with others” on climate change, says Philippe Goldin, a clinical neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis, who co-teaches the Climate Resilience course.

Course participants took action: working in community gardens focused on sustainable agriculture, waste reduction workshops and a recycling project focusing on clothing. Graduate Jada Alexander is currently starting an initiative that integrates surfing with environmental stewardship.

Alexander knows the solutions are complex and still fears for the planet, but “I think the class has increased my ability to be part of the solution,” he says.

Epel says the techniques and exercises taught in the class are “transferable skills” that can help people cope with stress in a variety of situations. If you want to give it a try, here are some strategies adapted from the course.

1. Slow down and enjoy moments of peace

If you want to continue to address the world’s problems, you must start with your own well-being.

When you stop to be present and let go of worries, it’s a chance for a quick reset.

In your everyday life, you can look for prompts or create new rituals to help you slow down. For example, if the church, town hall, or campus bell rings, you can use this as a moment to take a break. You can also set a reminder on your phone to take breaks throughout the day.

“There are many cues and signals that can remind us to stop and take a breath,” says Diana Hill, a clinical psychologist who teaches a course at the University of California, Santa Barbara. When we focus on our breathing, we can activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which makes our body feel more at ease.

If you want to try a longer self-care break, here’s the nature meditation used in the course taught by meditation teacher Mark Coleman.

2. Like me: Look a stranger in the eye

During the classes, participants are asked to choose a partner, usually someone they do not know. They are then asked to look into each other’s eyes while conducting a guided meditation. “It might be uncomfortable,” Hill says, so you might want to close your eyes.

You can use this recording by Jack Kornfield as a guide.

“This person was once a little child, just like me. This person had happy times, just like me,” it begins.

The exercise aims to help people see how much they have in common with every person, even strangers, or with people who see the world differently.

“This person was hurt, just like me. This person has experienced physical pain just like me. This person wants to be loved, just like me.

The meditation ends by asking you to imagine your partner’s happy moments and send him the following message: “I know you want to be happy, just like me.”

Hill says this practice of seeing common humanity is quite powerful.

You can also use Just like me exercise with someone with whom you have a difficult relationship. Even if they’re not sitting across from you, you can imagine yourself looking at them.

3. Honoring other people’s pain: It’s okay to cry

“To be activists for any cause, we must work together, and that starts with expressing our grief,” Epel says. The course adapted a practice by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown called Honoring our Pain, which takes approximately 15 minutes.

Find a friend to try it with. Take turns expressing your concerns. Begin with the following prompt: “What worries me most about today’s world and society is…” When one person speaks, the other listens.

People think that no one wants to hear any thoughts of depression and sadness, Epel says. “But we need to talk about it. We have to work through these very heavy emotions of sadness.”

Here’s an important takeaway: listening is a gift. “When we truly listen and pay attention to others, it is an act of compassion,” Goldin says.

During these conversations, “you begin to experience a sense of trust in experiencing your own emotions, being with your own emotions and the emotions of others,” he says.

If you repeat this over and over again, you will truly begin to understand what is possible in trusting and being with another person. “It’s a very powerful tool,” Goldin says.

4. Joy spreads, and with it, complaining

Partners again! It takes about 10 minutes and each person speaks half the time. You can complain for two minutes. It could be a stream of consciousness complaining session – everything that’s upsetting you, everything that’s wrong!

Notice what it feels like to let it all out. Now it’s time to flip the script.

For the next two minutes, talk about things that make you happy. What makes you happy today? What are you grateful for at this moment? A recent study found that people who were taught to practice gratitude had better mental health and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression.

“I remember this exercise very clearly,” says Alexander. When people complained, the negative energy spread very quickly. Then there was a marked shift as they moved to gratitude. “People were laughing, people were smiling, and it created a vibrant energy in the room,” he says.

5. Write a love letter to the Earth

Take a short walk outside – five or 10 minutes should be enough – or just sit quietly in your favorite outdoor spot. Think of it as a mini retreat, allowing you to connect with the natural world. Once you feel relaxed, you can start writing down your thoughts and writing the letter. Here are some potential questions borrowed from the class.

What are your experiences with nature? Have you felt the love?

Epel says allowing yourself to feel love and gratitude for the Earth can trigger strong emotions, so let go and go into silence. To start, you might want to check out Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s love letters to the Earth.

6. Letter to your future self

Writing a letter to your future self is the practice of “perspective taking,” Hill says. It’s a way to step away from your current struggles and stressors and focus on all your potential possibilities.

Start by imagining yourself at some point in the future, whether it’s a year from now or even 20 years from now. What do you wish for? Where do you want to be? What obstacles have you overcome?

Perhaps you see a future where the climate crisis is solved and where you work with others to solve specific problems. Once you have this future in mind, you can start thinking about specific goals – and the steps you’ll need to take – to achieve them. “It can be quite motivating,” Hill says.

Another option is to write a letter to your future self about what will happen if you don’t get involved to help solve the problem. “If you pay attention to the pain or discomfort of what might happen if you do nothing, that can also be a motivating force,” Hill says.

The editors of Stress Less are Carmel Wroth and Jane Greenhalgh.