6 Ways To Reduce Your Green Fatigue
Do you ever feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or even depressed when you think about sustainability? The truth is, you’re not alone. You might be suffering from something called green fatigue or eco-fatigue.
Green fatigue is fear of “environmental doom” that can come in the way of a positive outlook on life and sustainability. While the environment is indeed facing many challenges which are shaping the world forever, that doesn’t mean you need to have a fatalist mindset about it.
If you’re ever feeling down about sustainability, it’s important to take a step back from what you’re doing and focus on taking care of yourself. Luckily for you, we’ve got a few tips that we hope will help you out on your journey.
Photo by Christian Erfurt
What is green fatigue?
Fewer and fewer people are in denial that climate change is happening and is caused primarily by human activity. In fact, a 2021 study revealed that 98.7% of the scientific community agrees the earth is warming due to our actions.
While most people don’t need convincing of climate change, there’s a huge gap between awareness and action. Unfortunately, the way our society is set up makes it incredibly difficult to choose the sustainable path. Pair that with a barrage of conflicting information, and it’s no surprise that people become exhausted and give up or stop caring.
That’s what green fatigue is: the feeling of being overwhelmed by environmental issues, due largely to negative messaging in news and social media. This can in turn lead to a sense of hopelessness or apathy, feeling as if one’s efforts aren’t making an impact and therefore giving up altogether.
Green fatigue and learned helplessness
Green fatigue is largely related to a psychological phenomenon known as learned helplessness. Coined in the 60’s, learned helplessness “occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they have the ability to do so.”
In other words, the feeling of not being able to control a situation results in passiveness.
Just as a smoker might need to overcome their learned helplessness in order to finally quit smoking, so too must the individual who has given up on making sustainable choices.
Do our choices really matter?
No one is perfect when it comes to sustainability. It’s okay if you didn’t recycle that plastic tub or piece of cardboard; it’s okay if you took a long shower today; it’s okay if you drive a regular gas-powered car.
But if you’re suffering from green fatigue, you might feel as if none of your actions matter, and therefore it’s better (and easier) to give up altogether. That apathy, while understandable, is counterproductive.
It’s true that the individual is not responsible for climate change. A 2017 study revealed that just a handful of big companies produce the majority of all greenhouse gas emissions. Such a fact might confirm those feelings of dread and make us question whether our choices really matter.
The truth is that no individual’s choices alone won’t make a difference. We need big companies to make radical changes, as well as systematic change and technological advancement. But many individuals making many sustainable choices does matter and can influence bottom-up change in the long term.
6 ways to reduce your green fatigue
If you’re suffering from green fatigue, it might be time to take a step back. No, we don’t mean you should give up on sustainability altogether, but you can take steps towards reducing the strain so it’s not as difficult to make sustainable choices in the future.
Here are six ways you can reduce your green fatigue:
Streamline your effort
There are many ways to reduce the effort it takes to make sustainable choices. For example, if you’re finding that having a compost bin in the yard is too much work for you, maybe consider signing up for curbside pickup (if available in your area) or dropping your food scraps off with a friend instead.
Similarly, find ways to eliminate decision fatigue. Like green fatigue, decision fatigue is the exhaustion of having to make many decisions – small and big – many times throughout the day. Political leaders are able to focus on the most important aspects of their work in part because they have a lot of the small daily decisions made for them: what to wear, what to eat, when to eat, where to go, how to get there, and so on and so forth.
How can you implement anti-decision-fatigue strategies in your life? Well, if you want to eat less meat, why not simply do meatless Mondays? If you want to commute more by bicycle, pick a day of the week to bike, and stick with it. When it comes to recycling, print your local guidelines out so you don’t have to google every time you’re not sure an item can be recycled or not.
By streamlining your daily choices, you can reduce your effort and lower your fatigue, opening you up to do more of the things that you enjoy.
Practice self-care
Maintaining mental health through self-care is a good way to reduce green fatigue and related feelings of depression. Go easy on yourself – sustainability is important, but you can’t be a good steward for the planet if you’re not being a good steward of your mind and body.
While there are many different ways to practice self-care, here are a few of our favorites:
Exercise regularly
Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and stay hydrated
Read a book or listen to your favorite podcast
Practice meditation
Cultivate positivity
Spend time with friends and family
Looking for more ways to practice self-care? Check out this guide!
Avoid confrontational climate conversations
Talking to friends and family about climate change can be incredibly draining and increase feelings of green fatigue, especially if they don’t agree with you or just love playing devil’s advocate. Try to avoid having these kinds of conversations if you know you might react emotionally. It’s okay to hang out with people without getting into an argument.
Alternatively, you can practice what you might say if the topic does arise in conversation. You can use a Chatbot such as CliMate to practice and learn more about both sides of the issue. Additionally, try to learn all you can about climate change to make sure you stay well-informed.
Take small sustainability steps
Rather than tackling all of the world’s environmental problems all at once, try taking one small step at a time. For example, if you’re not already composting, learn how to start composting at home!
The key is to make small changes that you can turn into habits over time. Once a choice becomes a habit, it’ll be much easier to repeat over and over again, making mental room for a new change.
Make your vote count
Remember that part about the need for systemic change in order to tackle global warming? One way to achieve systemic change is by voting for politicians with a green platform. They, in turn, can vote for the bills that will make big changes a reality.
Support carbon offsetting
Currently in the media there’s a lot of eco-shaming; for example shaming celebrities and even climate activists for jet-setting around the world. And while air travel does produce an immense amount of CO2, it’s no reason to shame someone else for their actions.
Nowadays, there’s often an option to carbon-offset your travel, whether by plane, train, or bus for a few dollars or less. You can also look for organizations that support carbon offset projects that focus on renewable energy, reforesting, carbon sinks, and more! Check out this organization for more details on how to carbon offset.
How do you prevent green fatigue from taking over and bringing you down? Share your tips below!
