Words and thoughts for a planet in peril

Environmental degradation and climate change are evoking old feelings in new ways and birthing new words that try to express these emotions.

There is a growing vocabulary of words that express human emotions as we grapple with the realities of climate change and a planet in peril.

Anxiety, not surprisingly, is one of these emotions – perhaps the dominant one. The word “eco-anxiety” is already mainstream.

Anxiety, however, is not the only emotion that the earth spurs. Nor is it the only new word that expresses such emotions.

The Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, who coined several of these terms, also came up with a word that describes the diverse “eco-mental” states: psychoterratic.

In this special report, writers from various disciplines in India, Indonesia and Australia explore different aspects and impacts of our shared “psychoterratic” experiences.