Earth Day and the Heavy Weight of Solastalgia for Children.

Anne Nygard, Unsplash.

THE BURNING WORLD

Earth gets drowned in the tears of little faces

Further into the depths we go

Dreams are pushed back by the embers of a wildfire

Lost in the darkness of smoke

Children dance to the songs of birds that fly beyond their nest

Searching for a meadow filled with bees, trees and snow peas

We once ran through the endless mud, with clear air filling our growing lungs

Now we peer through glass windows that reach to the sky

Will this burning world find its breath again?

Its hope is in their hands

[Charles Mei. 2025.] @charles.thedreamer

Tomorrow is Earth Day, the world’s largest environmental movement where we are reminded of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging people to come together and take action. Earth Day is particularly acknowledged in schools throughout the world, through a wide variety of prescribed or basic activities, discussions, and conversations. While this is all well and good, I am instead drawn this year to thinking about children’s feelings of eco anxiety, eco apprehension, and in particular feelings of solastalgia towards our beautiful, yet damaged planet, because the sad reality is, our planet is greatly suffering.

Australian philosopher, Glenn Albrecht, coined the term solastalgia to describe the impacts of the mining industry on the people who lived nearby. The great sense of sadness and loss that people feel when their home is being gradually (or rapidly) threatened or destroyed, places the idea as a pivotal and pressing concept for Earth Day 2025. Furthermore, solastalgia can also be applied to feelings of distress caused by environmental disturbance caused by human interference and impact, so has relevance to this Earth Day post. 

Where we ordinarily would step into nature for a positive boost for wellbeing and freedom, we are now feeling emotions of great sadness at the depleting natural world. Vastly changing landscapes, burning forests, and rising sea levels are just a few crucial areas where the Earth is suffering. As I read each year of the horrors of natural disasters happening globally, my mind turns to the displaced children who experience deep sorrow at the loss of their homes. Notable and very recent examples include the Myanmar Earthquake and the Los Angeles Wildfires. While natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes cannot be entirely prevented, human impact upon the environment, however, is proving devastating for the landscape. Not only that, but in turn, the changing landscape results in deep psychological stress for children’s mental health, at a time when childhood in general is a period of extremely high developmental vulnerability.

Solastalgia is a difficult concept for even adults to address and so children would find this even more emotionally challenging to navigate. My wish for this Earth Day is that children are not frivolously colouring in photos of the Earth or chanting ‘save our planet’ with zero understanding, but there are deeper discussions taking place within the classroom related to thoughts and feelings of environment displacement and subsequent solastalgia. Listening to children’s responses and discussing their opinions and ideas, allows them to be both present and engaged with pressing environmental matters, after all, children are the future, and they sadly bear the heavy weight of ‘fixing’ the world. In light of this, as well as opinions within discussion, there should also be a place for allowing children to express their ideas for ways forward, this is where the most profound of interactions can take place. Here are a very basic set of questions which teachers could utilise within their discussions (and hopefully expand upon):

1.     How would you feel if you had to leave your home quickly?

2.     How do you feel about the landscape changing?

3.     What can you do to help the Earth?

4.     Have you heard of a recent natural disaster? How did it make you feel?

5.     What would you change (if you could) about our Earth?

Let it be known however, that there is, a positive outpouring stemming from feelings of environmental solastalgia. The younger generation continue to be highly charged and forthright in their desires to combat climate destruction with fantastic and wide-ranging empowered initiatives taking place. Notable movements calling for urgent action include (but are not limited to), UK Youth 4 Nature, Earth Uprising, and Earth Guardians. I also feel that it is imperative to encourage children and teenagers to equip themselves to get involved in environmental activity and more information can be found here.

Solastalgia is happening every day. Let’s talk about it more this Earth Day.