Podcast | How climate change is taxing our mental health

The environmental crisis has brought on anxiety, grief and a reluctance to have kids, says UW Bothell professor Jennifer Atkinson. 

A man stands on a bridge in Seattle and looks at a smoky sunset

A smoky sunset caused by British Columbia’s 2017 wildfires, seen from Seattle’s Jose Rizal Bridge. (Matt M. McKnight/Cascade PBS)

It’s hard to miss the signs of climate change.

The ocean’s heating, ice sheets are melting and – in places like Washington – wildfire seasons are getting longer


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But climate change isn’t just impacting our landscape: It’s also affecting our mental health.  

In this episode of Crosscut Reports, host Maleeha Syed talks with Jennifer Atkinson, an associate teaching professor at the University of Washington Bothell, about the difficult emotions many of us experience with these changes – and what we can do to navigate them.  

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