4 Ways You Can Combat Climate Fatigue

by Kiah Ronaldson, Communications Assistant

At times, the Climate Crisis can feel overwhelming. It can be hard to see if any real change can be made, or if we are too late to fix the damage that has been done. These feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy can develop into crisis fatigue.

Crisis fatigue can originate in an individual when we see an issue as too big to be changed, so we become apathetic to the cause out of exhaustion. While it is an entirely understandable and an ultimately human response to feel disconnected from a cause because of its enormity and not for lack of trying, it is dependent on the individuals state of moral attentiveness to reignite their passion for their beliefs.

 In this piece, we have outlined some of the ways you can combat this fatigue and rekindle personal responsibility as a climate activist. There is no one size fits all when it comes to enacting change in your personal life to help the Climate Crisis, but simple and effective practices can help you stay consistent in your efforts.

1.     Take breaks from the hard news.

 Staying informed and educated about the Climate Crisis is one of the fundamental tools in making impactful change. However, it can be draining. Taking breaks from the hard news can be beneficial in helping with climate fatigue. It may seem counterproductive but distancing yourself from the heavy information for brief periods and focusing on good climate news can help renew and incentivise your climate action. It’s as simple as taking a walk to clear your head when it all feels a bit heavy and coming back feeling enlivened to keep going.

 2.    Relish in what you can do or have done as an individual.

 Being empowered by what you can do or have done to combat the Climate Crisis is integral to beating burnout. Have you cut fast-fashion out of your life? Or changed your dietary choices to select more sustainably produced foods? Or even inspired a friend to become more educated about the Climate Crisis? While these actions may seem small in the grand scheme of things, they highlight a personal onus to become a better climate activist and prove that change is possible once you are educated in the ways you can make change. Relishing in that as a personal success and continuing to make the best efforts you can to live a lower carbon-footprint lifestyle is what makes the larger tasks feel more possible. One small change can help cultivate bigger ones.

 3.    Find your climate buddies.

For an individual, the Climate Crisis can feel immense and endless. Finding likeminded people who are looking to enact real change and stay educated is one of the best ways to maintain momentum and help with Climate fatigue. Now more than ever, people are taking it upon themselves to cultivate more community resources to bring people together to discuss, educate, and fight for change. Looking to your locality for climate initiatives, or even banding together with friends who feel as passionately as you and creating the community yourself, can create pockets of climate focused action and make fighting the climate crisis feel less lonely.

 4.    Fight with positivity.

While it sounds cliché and may seem impossible with the onslaught of information regarding the Climate Crisis that is negative, it has been shown that facing crisis fatigue with positivity is a key tool to help overcome the burnout from the bad news and will give you more momentum to persevere. Focusing on opportunities and solutions rather than obstacles can help enact real change. Fighting with positivity will increase your motivation to keep moving the dial for the better of our planet.