EBN- Online searches worldwide related to “climate anxiety” have risen, according to data gathered by Google.
Searches worldwide related to “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety” increased by 4,590% from 2018 to 2023, according to the company’s data. The two most commonly Googled questions were “What is eco anxiety?” and “How to deal with climate anxiety?”
Studies also suggests that women are more affected by the issue than men.
Searches in English on the topic were 27 times higher in the first 10 months of 2023 than during the same time period in 2017, according to the BBC, which reported the data on Nov. 22. In Portuguese, searches skyrocketed by 73 times during that time.
The rise of wildfires, floods and droughts around the world are just some of the highly visible signs of climate change.
What is reported less is the impact of climate change on human minds.
Climate anxiety – defined as feelings of distress about the impacts of climate change – has been reported globally, particularly among children and young people.
Data from Google Trends shows that search queries related to “climate anxiety” have increased dramatically.
Search queries in English around the issue in the first 10 months of 2023 are 27 times higher than the same period in 2017.
The analysis didn’t measure the total volume of searches. But it looked at a sample to identify the popularity of a trend over time around the world. And it adjusted data to compare countries with different population sizes.
