Meanings
- uncountableGrief caused by fear of climate change.
I’ve guided workshops and given dozens of public lectures, especially in Finland, my home country. And I’ve met a lot of people with climate grief and eco-anxiety.
2020 April 2, Panu Pihkala, “Climate grief: How we mourn a changing planet”, in BBC Future2 more examples
Jennifer Atkinson, a professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington in Bothell, will teach her second course on climate grief next semester. She offers the course to students in the environmental studies program to help prevent the burnout that can develop by confronting the problem daily.
2018 December 24, Avichai Scher, “'Climate grief': The growing emotional toll of climate change”, in NBC NewsAlthough it is not an official clinical diagnosis, the psychiatric and psychological communities have names for the phenomenon: “climate distress,” “climate grief,” “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety.”
2019 July 18, Victoria Knight, “‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health”, in Kaiser Health NewsSynonyms: climate despair
Synonyms & antonyms
nounGrief caused by fear of climate change.
Origin
Translations
Finnish ilmastoahdistus
- ilmastoahdistusgrief due to fear of climate change
Polish żal klimatyczny
- żal klimatycznygrief due to fear of climate change
Cite this entry
climate grief. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climate%20grief
“climate grief.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climate%20grief. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “climate grief,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climate%20grief.
Source: climate grief on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.