Sustyvibes announces launch of The Eco-Anxiety Africa Project

Sustyvibes, an environmental NGO, on Wednesday announced the launch of its latest project, The Eco-anxiety Africa Project (TEAP). TEAP seeks to understand and validate the experiences of eco-anxiety and environmental-related emotions in Africans.

Eco-anxiety can be understood as a range of emotional responses to the present, past, and future environmental and ecological breakdown including climate change.

“From our own experience as environmental enthusiasts and climate advocates, we know that we feel a form of eco-anxiety unique to the African population. Africa is one of the continents that has been disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, combined with biodiversity loss, plastic and oil pollution, and illegal wildlife trade. This erosion of our environment, culture, and histories have an intense impact on our emotions”. 

At the same time, the direct connections between the changing climate and other social challenges such as the increased spread of infectious diseases, food insecurity, community displacement, etc., are not always obvious to us” said Jennifer Uchendu, Founder of Sustyvibes. 

“We intend to raise awareness on these issues while making space for dialogue, support, and self-care” she added.

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TEAP is supported by Sustyvibes, a community of young people passionately promoting sustainability through engaging projects and events. In 2019, Sustyvibes hosted its first event on climate change and mental health in partnership with Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI). It was its first attempt to discuss feelings about climate change as Nigerians and look to mental health professionals for support and resilience building. At the time, the idea of Eco-anxiety was still vaguely understood and missing in the African climate discourse.

Sustyvibes, through TEAP, will work to support Nigerians and Africans at large as we navigate what it means to live in the climate crisis. 

The official launch of the project was held with an online conversation on eco-anxiety in Nigeria. This event was hosted by the professor of Environmental Studies at Humboldt State University and author of” A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety”, Sarah Jacquette Ray in conversation with Sustyvibes founder, Jennifer Uchendu. The event was  held in partnership with ONCA, an arts charity in the UK that bridges social and environmental justice issues with creativity.