How should we react to climate anxiety? This accessible book discusses anxiety and other emotions brought on by climate change, examining what climate anxiety is, why it is becoming so prevalent and how it differs from other types of anxiety.

The book examines why climate anxiety is developing so rapidly, particularly in younger people. It looks at how it can manifest differently—sometimes as hopelessness or despair, and sometimes as anger which can serve as a catalyst for action. The book dives into the nuance around climate anxiety, questioning what we can do about it or whether climate anxiety should be pathologized at all, given the very real threat of climate change. It considers cognitive biases that underlie information processing and discusses how politics and interest groups affect people’s views. Seeking to understand the polarisation that occurs around this topic, the book puts forward how we might alleviate climate anxiety without minimising serious concern about climate change.

Reviews:

One of the most substantive books of our time on climate change and its psychological effects on humankind. A must-read on a global scale that offers both insight and validation on climate anxiety's place in the quest for mental health.

Vanessa Botelho Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism, City University of New York, and two-time Emmy Award winner for news coverage.

Geoffrey Beattie is a household name in various areas, from fiction to psychology and environmental science. His books, fictional and scientific, are hard to put down when one starts reading them. They are insightful and delectable at once. This book is another triumph and may well be one of his best. This is more than a brilliant book—scary and enlightening at the same time. I could not put it down, reading it twice in a row. This is required reading for everyone—it truly is.

Professor Marcel Danesi, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto.

Understanding Climate Anxiety is an insightful, thought-provoking and disturbing book. This book outlines the psychological science behind climate anxiety in an accessible and committed way and critically considers climate anxiety in context. This issue affects us all. A must read; ignorance cannot be an option.

Professor David Gibson OBE, entrepreneur. Author of the ‘E-Factor: The 21st Century Guide to Entrepreneurial Thinking’ (Wiley).