Amid global crises like climate change, concepts such as solastalgia (distress produced by environmental change), eco-grief, and eco-anxiety are becoming familiar. Climate change’s impact on mental health has only recently cropped up in research, with studies finding connections between the climate and depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicidal thoughts. Around 50% of Indian youth aged 14 to 25 experienced increased stress due to worsening climate, according to a survey by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Other studies have found that repeated experiences with flooding, which occur particularly in eastern and southern India, appear to contribute to…

Across India, temperatures are soaring, and the impact is evident, from 300 suspected heat-related illness cases reported in Andhra Pradesh to 200 in Maharashtra, say news reports. Heat is unequally felt, with informal workers bearing the brunt of income loss and illness during the blazing hours. Another overlooked impact is heatwaves’ toll on menstrual and reproductive health, where access to washrooms and clean water exacerbates summers for women in low-income settlements, experts say.  Extreme heat exposure overlaps closely with marginalisation, says Vidhya Venugopal, Professor of Climate Change, Occupational and Environmental Health at Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research…