OUR          TIME

We have witnessed situations such as wars, fires, floods, species extinctions and significant changes in global temperature.

These events are happening with greater frequency and intensity around the world and affect us directly or indirectly.

According to the Climate Change Synthesis Report, issued by the IPCC in 2023, the planet has warmed more since 1970 than in any other 50-year period, which is due to human actions.

The report proposes that more than 3.3 billion people around the world live in situations of environmental vulnerability, such as food and water insecurity. This figure represents almost half of the planet's current population.

Those who live in a context of economic underdevelopment are more likely to suffer the impacts of the devastation caused by a lifestyle based on overproduction and overconsumption.

To give you a glimpse of the Brazilian reality, in 2020 the Pantanal, a biome that is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna, as well as water basins, suffered fires that affected around 39,000km², 26% of its size. The event led to a huge loss of plants, the death of millions of animals and the destruction of local human communities. Other states in the country also had their air quality affected. In 2024, new fires destroyed 7,600 km², burning a total of 31% of the biome.

At the beginning of 2024, parts of southern Brazil disappeared under the flood waters caused by the overflowing Guaíba River. Hundreds died and thousands of people lost their homes.

Faced with the instability of the climate, which is the result of an abusive relationship with the environment, the tendency is for more and more people to experience the symptoms of what has been named and disseminated as climate anxiety and climate distress.

Ecopsychology agrees with the Report's perspective that “human and ecosystem vulnerability are interdependent.”

So when we talk about human health and well-being, we need to start considering the health and well-being of the planet.