Eco-anxiety, climate change and the 'bottom billion': a plea for better understanding

Climate change poses enormous, rapidly increasing risks
to human well-being that remain poorly appreciated.
The growing understanding of this threat has generated
a phenomenon often called ’eco-anxiety’. Eco-anxiety
(and its synonyms) is best documented in the Global
North, mostly among people who are better educated
and whose reasons for concern are both altruistic and
self-interested. However, the populations who are most
vulnerable to climate change are disproportionately
poor and live in the Global South, where evidence for
eco-anxiety (or climate) anxiety is limited, especially
among those who have been called the ’bottom billion’,
approximately the global population’s poorest decile.
Here, I postulate reasons for this research gap as both
ethical and practical. Additionally, the bottom billion
experience many disadvantages, some of which plausibly
lower their recognition of anthropogenic climate change.
These disadvantages include nutritional and health
factors that can reduce learning capacity, even if access
to formal education exists. Many in this population
have limited or no electronic access to information.
Furthermore, the relationship between the stresses
faced by such populations and climate change is often
indirect, potentially also disguising recognition of the
role of climate change. The world is characterised by
many distressing forms of inequality, one of which is
the effective ’invisibilisation’ of the bottom billion. This
group faces many challenges; some of these may exceed
climate change as rational causes for anxiety. However,
it is here argued that policy makers should act on their
behalf, irrespective of evidence that they experience ecoanxiety.