How storytelling can help articulate emotions that evolve as the climate changes

As climate disasters escalate—wildfires in Wales and Manchester are hitting communities now—the mental toll is mounting. The Climate Cares Centre, the world's first research hub for climate and mental health, warns that the crisis is affecting wellbeing for hundreds of millions globally. A two thousand twenty-four survey found worry and sadness are the most common emotions Britons associate with climate change. But we're experiencing feelings so new we lack language to describe them. Environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined 'solastalgia'—homesickness when you're still at home—to capture the grief of watching familiar places erode. Per Bernadette McBride, a lecturer in creative writing at Liverpool Hope University, short fiction offers a way forward. Her research shows stories with what she calls 'emotional elasticity' can help readers experience climate emotions they can't yet name, using physical sensation as a bridge. McBride argues creative works—new metaphors, new stories—may become essential tools for surviving this crisis mentally.

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