4.Y.1. Climate trauma, public protest and the ethics of civil disobedience in our warming world
Authors:   Organised by: Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health (Nteherlands), ASPHER, EUPHA-LAW, -ENV, -HIA, -PMH, -GH, Faculty of Public Health (UK), GNAPH,   Chair persons: Piedad Martin-Olmedo (EUPHA-HIA), Brigit Toebes (Netherlands)
Published: October 2024

Eco-anxiety, defined as “a chronic fear of environmental dooms,” is related to both a direct experience of extreme weather events (e.g., floods, wildfires, hurricanes, droughts) as well as environmental changes. Although it is not yet being addressed as a proper disease, eco-anxiety is being related to symptoms such as obsessive thoughts about the climate and the total destruction of the planet, existential fear and feelings of guilt about one’s own carbon footprint, anger, frustration, depression, and anxiety, among others. Eco-anxiety is increasingly reported among children and young people (Hickman et al, Lancet Planetary Health, 2021). Less studied and understood is climate trauma at a societal level resulting from the ever-present, ever-growing threat of climate change.This session aims to facilitate a better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to this symptomatology as well as the reasons for our apparent collective paralysis as a society to act in accordance with the climate threats we face. This analysis will take into account aspects linked to cultural diversity and structural factors that can rationalise the inaction. Particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, many states have introduced or strengthened laws restricting the right to protest, with implications for public protest about state inaction on climate change. The workshop also aims to address questions such as: Are public protest and civil disobedience rational responses to the climate crisis? Should health professionals protest publicly? How has eco-anxiety been used as a legal defence to criminal charges? How should professional accreditation bodies respond when a member is convicted in a climate protest? Is deregistration appropriate, or should we instead be hastening to revise professional codes of ethics and public health training curriculums to reflect ‘the single biggest threat facing humanity’? (WHO, 2021). In the United Kingdom, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change has urged the General Medical Council ‘to be as lenient as the law allows’ with health professionals convicted of offences resulting from their protests against damage to nature, the climate, and health. Three expert panellists in mental health, law and ethics will present their perspectives in Pecha Kucha format.

Key messages

• Climate trauma at societal level may account for our collective paralysis in the face of climate change: yet political, structural and cultural factors must not be overlooked.

• Ethical codes and training curriculums for public health professionals must be updated to reflect the evolving roles of PHP in response to climate change.

Speakers/Panelists

Jutta Lindert

Hochschule Emden-Leer, Emden, Germany

David Patterson

University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

Farhang Tahzib

Faculty of Public Health, Haywards Heath, UK