Article
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Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Ecological Sorrow: Types of Grief and Loss in Ecological Grief
Version 1
: Received: 14 November 2023 / Approved: 15 November 2023 / Online: 15 November 2023 (16:34:05 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Pihkala, P. Ecological Sorrow: Types of Grief and Loss in Ecological Grief. Sustainability 2024, 16, 849. Pihkala, P. Ecological Sorrow: Types of Grief and Loss in Ecological Grief. Sustainability 2024, 16, 849.
Abstract
Ecological changes evoke many felt losses and types of grief. These affect sustainability efforts in profound ways. Scholarship on the topic is growing, but the relationship between general grief research and ecological grief has received surprisingly little attention. This interdisciplinary article applies theories of grief, loss, and bereavement to ecological grief. Special attention is given to research about “non-death loss” and other broad frameworks about grief. Dynamics related to both local and global ecological grief are discussed. Kinds of potential losses arising out of ecological issues are clarified with the frameworks of tangible/intangible loss, ambiguous loss, nonfinite loss, and shattered assumptions. Various possible types of ecological grief are illuminated by discussing the frameworks of chronic sorrow and anticipatory grief/mourning. Earlier scholarship about disenfranchised ecological grief is augmented by further distinctions about various forms it may take. The difficulties in defining complicated or prolonged grief in ecological context are discussed, and four types of “complicated ecological grief” are explored. Based on the findings, three special forms of ecological loss and grief are named and discussed: transitional loss and grief, lifeworld loss, and shattered dreams. The implications of the results for ecological grief scholarship, counselling and coping are briefly discussed. The results can be used by psychological and healthcare professionals and researchers, but also by members of the public who wish to reflect on their eco-emotions.
Keywords
climate grief; solastalgia; bereavement; eco-anxiety; chronic sorrow; nonfinite loss; sadness; disenfranchised grief; anticipatory mourning; ambiguous loss
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public, Environmental and Occupational Health
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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