‘People talk about deep sadness:’ Scientists study climate change grief

His canvases are painted from first-hand observation by a brush wielded in the outdoors and glow with the colours of the Canadian wilderness. But British Columbia artist Dominik Modlinski doesn’t take his paints into the woods much anymore. "I felt I can’t go on my painting trips because everything is covered in smoke," he said. "I can’t go to some areas I love to go because you can’t see anything. "I feel somebody is controlling my life and I can’t do anything about it. It does affect my mood." Mental-health researchers around the world are taking notice of what people feel when the world they’ve always known changes gradually or suddenly from climate change. Some call it environmental grief, some call it solastalgia — a word coined for a feeling of homesickness when home changes around you. The American Psychological Association has released a lengthy report into solastalgia. So has the British medical journal The Lancet. Australian farmers report rising levels of depression as their drought-stricken lands blow away. An international group of climate scientists maintain a website entitled Is This How You Feel? House of Commons committees have discussed it. Health Canada is exploring the topic. "It is […]

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