In this article, Professor Ilan Kelman (UCL; National Preparedness Commission member) discusses the work being undertaken by Glenn Albrecht in understanding the human psychological relationship we all have with our environment and the impacts of climate change and the destruction of our environment on our mental health and wellbeing. The article explains the key emergent terms such as solastalgia and psychological distress from changes in the natural environment. Arguing that solastalgia is becoming increasingly prevalent and expected to rise due to climate change. Professor Kelman explains how the work undertaken in environmental psychology aims to shift the focus towards more positive, productive action-focused psychological states to pursue a vision of the sybiocene, where humanity will live in symbiosis with the natural environment. Overall, this research deepens our understanding of the complex interactions of human psychology with our environmental interfaces. This builds on previous groundbreaking work Health Social Science: A Transdisciplinary and Complexity Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2001).
Read the full article by Professor Ilan Kelman in Psychology Today.