“I Really Don’t Have My Mind on That”: Is Eco-Anxiety Cutting Us Off From Sexual Desire?

“I really don’t have my mind on that.” For some people, anxiety over climate change is reaching into the most intimate parts of life, including sexual desire.

Laura’s eco-anxiety peaked this summer while she was staying with her sister and her sister’s partner at their parents’ home in Biscarrosse, southwestern France. The region had been hit by fires that destroyed 3,600 hectares of forest and forced 30,000 people to evacuate.

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At 5 a.m., the firefighters told us to leave because it was becoming dangerous to breathe. I thought about all the elderly people, those with respiratory problems, and babies.

The family’s house was not damaged, but they still had to leave because the air had become toxic. At 5 a.m., firefighters told them to go because breathing was becoming dangerous. Laura said she immediately thought about elderly people, those with respiratory problems and babies.

She described the scene as an end-of-the-world atmosphere: the sky had turned completely black, gas canisters were exploding, sirens sounded continuously, and helicopters and Canadair firefighting aircraft filled the air. “It was very violent to experience,” she said. The article asks how such climate-related fear can spill over into people’s intimate lives.

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It was an end-of-the-world atmosphere, with the sky turning completely black, gas canisters exploding, sirens sounding continuously, helicopters, Canadair aircraft, and so on. It was very violent to experience.