Disgust, palpitations, stress: in Toulouse a large school raises awareness of its students to eco-anxiety
The National School of Agronomics of Toulouse (INP-ENSAT) will offer a training cycle on eco-anxiety to its students. This phenomenon, which corresponds to the various forms of anxiety linked to global warming (and all that derives from it), is increasingly suspect.
“It is similar to anxiety, which can result in difficulty breathing, concentrating, palpitations, sweating. You can feel disgust, sadness, guilt.” This is how Nicolas Kahn, vice-president of GreenSat, the ecological student association of the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse describes “eco-anxiety”. A term that encompasses all forms of anxiety related to the consequences of global warming: a certain “fear of the future”. Nicolas Kahn began to feel the effects when he was a child. “When I was walking in the forest, and I saw the clear cuts of the trees, I was afraid for the future, I did not feel well”, says the latter. But it is once in adulthood that Nicolas manages to put a word on his feelings. In an article, he discovers the term “eco-anxiety”. And he realizes that he is not the only one to suffer. “At ENSAT, when we did film debates or conferences on the climate, some people started crying. We felt helpless. One day, I was running with a friend. I spoke to her about the climate and she collapsed,” he said.
A training cycle against eco-anxiety
Last year, a survey launched in the promotion of the student revealed that, out of 100 students questioned, 60% say they are eco-anxious.
Thus, on the initiative of Nicolas Kahn and Blandine Vignal, a SIMPPS student (interuniversity preventive medicine service), the INP-ENSAT decided to offer a training cycle on eco-anxiety (based on student volunteering) , starting in 2023.
The main objective of this training, presented in the form of workshops, is to give students the necessary tools to “learn to manage their emotions and take care of their eco-anxiety”, as explained by one of the trainers, Isabelle Giraldo (ecotherapist). Eco-anxiety is not a pathology, “we must learn to live with it”, insists the latter. “The biggest step is to normalize eco-anxiety, to talk about it. Those affected tend to feel alone, isolated,” explains the professional. At the end of this training, the students must be able to lead discussion groups around eco-anxiety, in order to support, in turn, other students in need.