School-based therapist Sarah Loyd said eco-anxiety can best be defined as “existentialism at its finest,” or having severe stress surrounding the deterioration of the climate. Loyd said she has observed increasing numbers of eco-anxiety cases among students over the past years, and said these trends are most likely due to increasing awareness around climate change. 

“I don't think any other generation before yours really had to think about it,” Loyd said. “My generation talks about recycling, which helps. But your generation is like, ‘Our ice caps are melting and we're all gonna die.’ [Environmental issues are] constantly in your face. I think that you have no other choice but to look at it.”

Senior Asha Lamanque said she has experienced eco-anxiety due to the predominantly negative portrayal of the state of the environment in the media. As a result, Lamanque said she hopes to diversify the type of media she absorbs in order to gain a wider perspective on these issues.   

“I watch a lot of documentaries and they've all had the same theme of this gray overview of the future,” Lamanque said. “It made me want to think about what solutions are we currently working on that are large scale, and consider the progress that we've made.”

For senior Radhika Agarwal, who has been a part of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, a grassroots climate activism group, since its founding, climate anxiety can look like thinking about the weather and wondering how much worse it will get in the coming years or thinking about all the ways society has to improve in order to slow the effects of climate change.

“I've had a woman come up to me after speaking at a public event, and she's just bursting into tears right in front of me about how she admires my work, but her also sharing how her daughter doesn't want to have children because of how scared she is,” Agarwal said. “I've had other significant interactions like that.”

Rather than feeling one’s efforts would be inadequate to improve the current state of the environment, Agarwal said she encourages people to take initiative, whether in the form of advocating for legislation, educating others or any other task with wide-reaching implications. 

“When it comes to climate anxiety, that can always change and transform into climate action,” Agarwal said. “[That way], you're actually doing something, you're turning that negative emotion into a positive one.”

Sophomore Aayushma Adhikari, who helps run Climate Crew, the school’s sustainability and zero waste team, is no stranger to tackling the climate crisis. Some of the best ways to get involved, Adhikari said, are to consume less products from environmentally harmful companies and push for government action through voting and signing petitions. 

“I can take as many individual actions as I want, [but] without major systemic changes and corporate changes, government changes and environmental policies, we're not going to get anywhere with climate change,” Adhikari said. “So I think my anxiety is just around the fact that I'm worried that corporations aren't doing enough or that government officials aren't doing enough.”

Lamanque, who volunteers at a farm at Stanford where she learns about applications of sustainability, said her engagement with the environment has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of climate change and related issues. To combat such problems, Lamanque said she practices recycling and composting, and hopes to pursue a career in computer and data science to contribute to sustainability initiatives.    

Though tackling climate change may seem daunting, junior Elisa Floyd said that it is imperative to stay optimistic. Floyd, who is on the FUHSD student sustainability commission, said that feelings of eco-anxiety can be alleviated by making small adjustments to our daily routines. 

“Instead of pointing out all the negative ways we are harming the environment, we can appreciate the little ways we are [addressing climate change],” Floyd said. “I’ll ask people why they don’t throw their trash away properly, or why they don’t consider public transportation. The response I’ll always get is, ‘I’m just one person, and nothing I do will make a difference.’ But taking small actions keeps yourself accountable.”

While individual action itself may not have a large impact, often starting the conversation can help raise awareness, Adhikari said. 

“Change needs to start from somewhere,” Adhikari said. “If we can have enough people making small changes such as not buying fast fashion and consuming less meat, it can influence more people and more than that, it will make you feel good that you're doing something good for the environment. That's something that I've experienced myself.”