Climate, Greenspace, Carbon Footprints and Mental Health

More and more studies on greenspace have shown benefits to mental health. Examples may be found at NASA's website, Barcelona Institute for Global Health's website, and even articles presented on Psychology Today's website (example found here).

However, there aren't many articles that explain how related efforts to benefitting the climate crisis have also helped with mental health, such as recycling more, reducing carbon footprints, advocating for more climate awareness and disaster prevention measures, etc. Although mental health promotion is lacking in areas concerning climate advocacy, research on the detriments to mental health regarding natural disasters that are related to climate change have been published. The American Psychiatric Association (psychiatry.org) published this article discussing how climate change affects mental health. Although more able-bodied persons are seemingly more resilient to climate change, many minorities (by age - including children and the elderly, by disability - including those with histories of mental illness, and otherwise) are deeply affected by climate change and its related effects, including traumatic losses and experiences related to natural disasters (loss of homes to wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes, etc.).

But on the flip side of things, it is much harder to see the benefits of climate advocacy and awareness, reduction of carbon footprints, and recycling - as the benefits of these healthy environmental actions aren't often seen immediately. Nevertheless, some people are feeling empowered when advocating for positive changes to our climate and our environment. Redirecting sadness and anger for growing populations concerned with climate change and the ongoing climate crises will be more sublime and cathartic in nature as we see more politicians, youth, and health-conscious philanthropists advocate for climate protections through awareness and actions like recycling and watching what we eat. We have also worked on reducing smokers (myself included) through anti-smoking campaigns as well, which also helps the environment. But how we handle our trash, what we eat, and how many times we do nonessential traveling that releases toxic chemicals in the air also matter in terms of climate crises.

In what ways have you benefitted from being a climate and environmental advocate? In what ways have you changed your lifestyle as part of your civic duty to help reduce toxins in our environment? In what ways do you find greenspace beneficial for your mental health?

And how has this pandemic changed your efforts at improving clean air, clean water, recycling efforts, and more?

It was about 17 years ago, but I became active in a citizen's group who was combatting the offensive and harmful smells coming from something that SHOULD HAVE BEEN a good thing, but was not: an inadequately supervised (and somewhat shady, it turned out) Compost facility, which was sneaked onto close-by property. It never should have been allowed to open or operate, in the first place; so there must have been some shifty deal that was done with our municipality from the start.

Also, it turns out they were accepting materials and substances that had no business going into a compost facility. So the odours arising from this place on hot days were not just unbearable, abut actually toxic. I found that out when I nearly fainted from them. To make matters worse, people were reporting an increase in the number of young people in the neighbourhood who were suddenly developing asthma.

We had just bought this place, and were renovating it, and almost done with all our work. I wasn't too ill yet, so there was no option for me except to get involved in investigating that facility.

It took over 2 years to get the operation to close. Sometimes, I could make meetings; sometimes I couldn't. But I did my best to educate myself about it all, and to get straight answers out of key people.

Over the course of the battle, I lost a lot of faith in our local politicians, and even the Region's environmental oversight people. Bureaucrats are professional foot draggers and shady deal makers---even in a town as small as ours.

If you are considering becoming and advocate for the environment, be warned! One has to be well enough to do several things: Educate yourself as much as you can on your specified area of activity; Know when to speak up and when to play it close to the vest; And be mentally strong enough not to THROTTLE people when they begin their fancy footwork and prevaricating and condescending to you. We had to remain calm and persevere through an awful lot unscrupulous behaviour, before we could get to the truth of things.

I did get the chance to know a lot of my neighbours, and work alongside some really fine human beings who sacrificed A LOT of their time and energy to see that right was done. Much respect to them!

So, at last, we did win, and the stink is gone. When I recall that I was able to do that, I feel really proud of myself.

@MuseumGhost - Kudos to you and your colleagues for your efforts toward a better environment! I'm just doing my part behind-the-scenes. I'm too disabled to be at the forefront. But every little bit of awareness and encouragement counts.

When I lived in Chicago, it was easy for me to switch to using reusable shopping bags. I could wash them and dry them when I got home, and I knew that my own bags were clean and fresh when I left my home. This was long before the pandemic. It was one way to reduce the use of plastics.

For almost 2 years, I've been nicotine- and tobacco-free! I quit smoking because the pandemic made me realize how much I do want to keep my lungs. It's harder for me to lose weight when I have many disorders that contribute to my metabolic disorder, including sleep apnea (I can't do the CPAP machines yet), insomnia, PTSD, ACEs, CFS/ME, IBS, and having other medical issues. I cannot just do exercise or intermittent fasting without my heart racing, my blood pressure climbing, my fatigue worsening, etc. I have to take things very slowly, so it's a process. Still, I do what I can as an individual to reduce toxins in the air now.

I'm still not sure about all the environmental lingo and what composting is, what carbon-zero really means, etc. I have to read into those things and figure out what is what, and how I can at least spread awareness.

To me, quality of life factors include green space, clean air, clean water, public safety measures to reduce pathogens and violence, improved health care accessibility and benefits, and improved climate/environmental factors. There's something about seeing more green space and safe spots outside that brings me peace and joy, even if I can't feel it fully, due to my PTSD and dissociative disorders.

The more we work together to reduce toxins in the air, the better our overall world will be.

I'm so glad you gave up tobacco products. They are pollutants and contain terrible, toxic stuff. You older self will thank you, too, down the road.

The compost facility is supposed to be a step toward reducing what goes into landfills, by encouraging people to put their organics out for collection separately from their regular recycling and garbage. It's been working successfully in Europe for years.

But it cannot be abused (taking in unmarked barrels of unidentified sludge was one trick the operator was doing) and it has to be supervised correctly. Naturally, you'd expect some smells to come from a compost facility---rotting vegetable matter, which is what they mostly should be taking in, as well as approved kitchen scraps, and some yard waste as bulk. These things can smell. But if the facility is managing everything correctly, keeping substances buried, and taking in only approved items, and handling them appropriately, it need not be a disgusting source of daily unpleasant stench and toxic gasses.

They were shut down for a while, then moved to a location where no one was going to be affected by any offensive odours that could come from the place; and they are under more stringent environmental oversight than they had been, in their early days. Now, they are more accountable. And those were the minimum outcomes we wanted to see.

Thank you for making this planet a better, safer, and healthier place to live in!

I am pleased that people have recently begun to discuss the impact of ecology on human mental health more actively. I think that many people notice how their thoughts and state change as soon as they manage to leave the countryside or relax by the sea.

I go camping a lot. I love the outdoors.

This is my second wave of the ecology movement, the first being in the 70s.

Everything is a trade off. We have wind farms where I live. I thought they were great until I saw a flock of birds sucked in and slaughtered by it. I hate those big ugly things now.

I can't help but notice that you mentioned disaster prevention measures. I have survived a hurricane, a tornado, and two earthquakes. While I had PTSD for a short time after each, the CPTSD from the childhood abuse is much much worse requiring years of therapy.
I can't help but to think that if we stop hitting our kids and raising them to be good global citizens, we will accomplish so much more with our planet.

Also, remember that the Earth is a living thing and should be respected as such.