From WNYC Studios, it's Brian Lair, a daily politics podcast.

It's Thursday, May 12th.

When people think of climate change, they certainly think of natural disasters, warming, flooding, but here's a less discussed impact. The effect it has on people's mental health.

Eco-anxiety is an emerging term studied by psychologists and climate activists. It's the dread that people experience from knowing there could be impending environmental collapse.

And with this in mind, younger generations are questioning their ability to plan for a future,

whether to go to grad school, receive training, even have children in a world that will continue

to look less and less like the one we know today and one that is less safe.

An unpredictable future causes distress in any circumstances, and it causes distress when it

comes to the future of the planet and how it will impact their lives and their children's lives.

Psychologists are treating patients to deal with eco-stress increasingly.

But while eco-anxiety is a source of worry, it can also serve as a catalyst to encourage

people to participate in environmental protection, environmental activism, and to use those

feelings for action rather than despair.

Let's talk about this with Britt Ray, Human and Planetary Health Fellow at Stanford University,

an author of the new book, Generation Dread.

And some of you who listen to our Death, Sex, and Money podcast with Anna Sale,

know she's also the current episode guest on Death, Sex, and Money,

and we want to bring her on to the radio as well.

So, Britt, welcome to WNYC. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Hey, Brian. Thank you so much. It's good to be here.

Can you talk about the term eco-anxiety first? What's the scope of that?

Sure. So the American Psychological Association defines it as the chronic fear of environmental doom, which is a pretty apt description of the feeling that many folks are reporting,

...