Did you know that there are fires in Maui right now? How about the fires in Canada? Did you know that those are still raging? What about the clear-air turbulence during flights taking a significant rise? Or the pressure to declare climate change as a national emergency? 

     If you know any of this information, then I am not shocked. Everything that concerns the ecosystem is dominating news feeds. However, when it comes to the news, everything is dramatized and created into something to cause worry and panic. Sometimes, what scares you may not be how the news makes these events sound, but the idea of them happening. 

     Let’s take the new Maui fires as an example. In the middle of the night on August 8, a brush fire rapidly spread and engulfed the downtown Lahaina area. Currently, the fires are 100% contained. While the fire itself is getting significant attention from news outlets, the effects of the fire are also being covered to a large extent. 

     In an article, CNN writer Aditi Sangal says that “the wildfires had spurred some people to jump into the ocean to escape the danger.”

     While this may be relevant information when trying to understand the situation, it can cause some anxiety. If you scroll through the CNN website, you can see that the stories are advertised in a way that makes you worry. Some titles include the words “apocalyptic” and “devastating.” If words like these are used, it is meant to cause stress and make it so that you can’t ignore what is happening.

      Coverage of the Maui fires is everywhere. With the coverage comes the speculation on the cause of the fires, and many people are saying climate change is the main culprit. 

     If you are like me, who gets anxious over anything that has to do with climate change or the idea of environmental damage, then this type of information makes your heart rate speed up and causes you to think about how our world is dying. In probably 30 years, the world we know today will be significantly different. 

     According to the National Library of Medicine, eco-anxiety is “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” This fear can be related to climate change or human activities that damage the environment. With how many climate crises are happening worldwide, this fear seems unavoidable, especially if you have anxiety that easily triggers when talking about something like the environment. 

     Now that you know what eco-anxiety is, how do you fix it? Sadly, just like any other type of anxiety, there is no cure. However, there are ways to make yourself feel better about the environment and help make the world seem cleaner. 

     Recently, I have been battling much anxiety over the climate. This stems from my dislike of being out of control. I do not particularly appreciate how the world is dying, and I can’t do anything to stop it. Politicians aren’t caring about it as much as they should. Some call climate change a “hoax,” which is incredibly wrong. And some people just don’t care.

     Much of the primary damage to the Earth was created before I was born. Now that I am getting older and more aware of what is happening in the world, I’ve been getting angry. Why was this world that was handed to me by my elders so mismanaged? I’m stuck in a world where pollution is at an all-time high, politicians are still making decisions for us that kill Mother Nature and I have to worry that today might be the day when there is another ecological disaster. 

     I recently told all of my worries to someone close to me. We talked for what seemed like hours, and they suggested things I could do to show the world that I was doing my part in trying to keep it alive. 

     When I have an anxiety attack regarding the climate, I try my best to cope. I try not to look at the news and instead try to recycle more often and pick up garbage I see lying around. This may seem like a useless thing to do. What will one person recycling do for the world when millions of things are still not recycled? Thousands of other factors contribute to climate change and the decline of environmental health.

     The answer is plain and simple. It may not do much, but it’s enough. 

     I am trying to combat my anxiety about the environment, so making a small gesture of trying to help makes me feel better, knowing that this spot on Earth doesn’t have garbage littering the sidewalk. There may be millions of other places where garbage currently resides, but at least this one place doesn’t have any. 

     There is no way to handle my anxiety about the environment entirely. However, if you are like me and have the same fear, do what I do. Try to take care of your little sliver of the world. 

     Climate change issues, such as the fires in Maui and Canada and global warming affecting our environments, may be occurring right now. These things are much bigger than you and I, but at least we acknowledge and understand what it means. 

     My anxiety shows me that I care and that I want to change. I may always be scared of climate change, but I will look it in the face and try to help fix it. 

     Can you?