The scorching heat wave and disastrous air quality across Colorado, following the second hottest June on record, serves as a stark reminder of the worsening impacts of climate change. While heat waves and other extreme weather events dominate headlines, another less visible yet highly concerning consequence is unfolding: the toll on mental health, often referred to as eco-anxiety.
Eco-anxiety encompasses a spectrum of emotions from fear to despair to existential dread, particularly among young people who are acutely aware of the fact that time is running out to curtail the harmful impacts of climate change that threaten to upend their futures. Eco-anxiety is far from unfounded — it is the direct result of watching the state of our planet worsen year after year while government responses range from being inadequate to moving us backward.
For years, Colorado has been in a dire mental health crisis. According to Mental Health America’s recently released 2024 state rankings, Colorado ranks 44th in the nation for youth mental health, and 50th for overall prevalence of mental illnesses.
We also know climate change is a contributing factor. According to the 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey, 2 million Coloradans believe climate change has affected themselves or their families, and of those, 1 in 3 climate change has hurt their mental health. And nearly half of Colorado adults think their community isn’t adequately prepared to deal with a climate-related disaster.
Just last month, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1984 decision, known as the Chevron ruling, that instructs lower courts to defer to federal agencies — such as the EPA — when laws passed by Congress leave room for interpretation. While this ruling has far-reaching implications for a wide range of regulations around health care, food and drug safety, worker protections and more, it’s particularly devastating for hard-won environmental regulations that now hang in the balance.
Safeguards to keep our air and water clean, protect people from toxic chemicals, and initiatives to tackle climate change are now in peril, threatening to exacerbate our environmental and mental health crises.
It feels next to impossible to pay attention to news about our environment without feeling a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness. A large-scale, global study from The Lancet of children and young people aged 16-25 found that 59% were “extremely worried” about climate change. More than half reported feeling sad, anxious, angry, powerless and helpless, and 45% said these feelings negatively affected their daily lives. Seventy-five percent said they think the future is frightening. These results are highly alarming, given that chronic stress in childhood increases their risk of experiencing mental health conditions throughout their lives.
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We also know that the impacts of climate change can exacerbate physical conditions, which in turn worsen mental health outcomes. Prolonged heat waves, worsened air quality and natural disasters not only threaten physical health but also amplify stress and anxiety, particularly among vulnerable populations such as older adults, children and those already facing homelessness. For individuals managing mental illnesses — over 1 in 4 Coloradans — the challenges are compounded; disruptions in medication supply chains and heightened sensitivity to temperature changes can lead to increased health risks.
Of course, a central part of the solution to eco-anxiety lies in desperately needed policy change. That means bolstering environmental protections at the federal, state and local level. The best treatment for eco-anxiety is collective action around climate and commitment from those in power to prioritize this issue before it’s too late.
We can’t wait, however, for policy changes to come about before helping Coloradans who experience eco-anxiety. We must acknowledge and validate these feelings among our friends and neighbors, and mental health providers must be prepared to help clients navigate these difficult feelings. We must invest the time, energy and resources needed to adequately research eco-anxiety and train our mental health workforce to provide the appropriate clinical interventions.
Finally, greater civic involvement is needed, and that includes voting to elect leaders who are committed to prioritizing the health and well-being of our communities by prioritizing policy solutions to mitigate the climate crisis. The impact of this issue spans financial, housing, health and overall well-being domains.
The message is simple: Political leaders, policymakers and community members who care about Colorado’s mental health crisis, particularly in how it’s impacting our children, should also prioritize climate action. In order to create healthier communities today, we must commit to building a sustainable future for tomorrow.
The present and future mental health of our young people depends on our decisions at the ballot box in November. When you mark your ballot, mark it with only love and appreciation in your heart for the health of the whole planet and for the greatest number and diversity of its people and other creatures — and, even if all is lost, you will have done something good for your own mental health in that single action.
Vincent Atchity lives in Denver and is the president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado.
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