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Climate change and mental health
Climate change is not only an environmental crisis; it is a human one. Wildfires, floods, heat, and smoke reach into people’s homes, health, and livelihoods, while the steady awareness of a changing planet stirs worry, grief, guilt, anger, and hope, sometimes all in the same day. These climate emotions are natural, meaningful responses to real threats and real losses. They are increasingly present in classrooms, clinics, workplaces, and kitchen-table conversations, and they carry consequences for mental health and well-being, particularly for young people, Indigenous communities, and those already facing marginalization.
Why this resource exists
Most professionals are never taught how to recognize or respond to climate emotions, in themselves or in the people they support. Understanding Climate Emotions was created to fill that gap. It offers a shared vocabulary, evidence-informed frameworks, and practical strategies for fostering resilience, delivered as a complete professional development curriculum alongside a guided two-hour course. Everything is free and open access, and may be used and adapted with attribution under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.
Funding and development
This resource was funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Health and developed by the Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance (MHCCA), with an interdisciplinary community of reviewers and contributors from across Canada and beyond.
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Developed by the MHCCA
Funded by the B.C. Ministry of Health
Core Developers
- Kiffer G. Card, PhD, Blanche and Charlie Beckerman Scholar in Public Health Innovation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
- Dana De Benetti, Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance
- Kaylie Higgs, Mental Health and Climate Change Alliance
- Michael Marchand, sqilxw, syilx Nation - Cultural Safety Consultant
Reviewers and Contributors
- Claire Perry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- Ashley Stoltz, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
- Brianna Aspinall Nuñez, Carbon Conversations TO
- Monique Beneteau, Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health
- Lilian Barraclough, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph & Youth Climate Lab
- Kelly Green Guilbeau, Conservation social scientist, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Susan Clayton, Psychology Department, The College of Wooster
- Judy Wu, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
- Maya K. Gislason, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
- Dora Rebelo, MHPSS Consultant, Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon
- Sonya L. Jakubec, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mount Royal University
- Rachel Davies, BSc, MSc, PGCert, MRTPI, MIEnvSc
- Gina Martin, Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University
- Abhay Singh Sachal, Break The Divide; Faculty of Education, University of Regina
- Naomi Leung, Climate Recentered, Solastalgia
- Steve Willis, Herculean Climate Solutions
- Susan Bodnar, PhD, Clinical Psychologist; Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University; Principal Investigator, DEWLab; Co-editor of Unmoored Yet Unbroken: Ecopsychology for a Changing World
- Tajrin Faurschou, MSc Student, Climate Change and Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Alberta
Contributors reviewed individual modules or the curriculum as a whole; their listing does not imply endorsement of every statement by every contributor.