1. Eco-anxiety encompasses many types of anxiety and emotions that need to be better understood and addressed. 2. In addition to anxiety, ecological emotions like confusion, desire to help, fear, sadness, guilt, anger, and despair are connected to environmental issues and climate change. 3. When discussing eco-anxiety, narratives that reduce it only to a mental health problem should be avoided, and theologians need to be careful about using terms like "hope" without consideration of the complex emotions involved.

3. 1. Eco-anxiety can actually be many kinds of
anxiety
2. Various “ecological emotions” need
attention
3. Theologians should be careful when using
hope terms

4. Anxiety
Anxiety
emotions
Strong
anxiety
symptoms
Anxiety
due to
repressed
emotions
Existential
anxiety
Pihkala, Panu (2020)

5.  We need clarity about which form of anxiety
or distress we are currently talking about
 Narratives where eco-anxiety is labeled
simply as a mental health problem should be
resisted

7. Ecological
emotions
Confusion
Desire to
do
something
Anxiety
Fear
SadnessGuilt
Anger
Despair
Sense of
community
Pihkala, Panu
(2020b)

8.  We need a growing understanding of the
many emotions / feelings / affects which are
connected with eco-anxiety
 As educators / theologians / leaders we need
to be aware of our own emotions, so that we
may better support others

9.  Mind map of eco-emotions
 http://ecoanxietyandhope.blogspot.com/2020/07/
mind-map-of-ecological-emotions.html
 Questions for discussion
 https://ecoanxietyandhope.blogspot.com/2020/11
/ecological-emotions-questions-for.html
 Spectrum Line
 https://ecoanxietyandhope.blogspot.com/2020/03
/spectrum-line-of-ecological-emotions.html

11.  (Christian) theologians should be wary of too-
easy hope appeals
 See Ryan LaMothe’s recent work
 Eco-existentialist theology of climate crisis /
“the Anthropocene”?

13.  panu.pihkala@helsinki.fi
University of Helsinki,
HELSUS Sustainability ScienceCenter &
Faculty ofTheology
Twitter: @panupihkala
 www.ecoanxietyandhope.blogspot.com