Mapping the Solastalgia Literature: A Scoping Review Study.

Lindsay P Galway,Thomas Beery,Kirsti Tasala,Kelsey Jones-Casey

doi:10.3390/ijerph16152662

Abstract

Solastalgia is a relatively new concept for understanding the links between human and ecosystem health, specifically, the cumulative impacts of climatic and environmental change on mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Given the speed and scale of climate change alongside biodiversity loss, pollution, deforestation, unbridled resource extraction, and other environmental challenges, more and more people will experience solastalgia. This study reviewed 15 years of scholarly literature on solastalgia using a scoping review process. Our goal was to advance conceptual clarity, synthesize the literature, and identify priorities for future research. Four specific questions guided the review process: (1) How is solastalgia conceptualized and applied in the literature?; (2) How is solastalgia experienced and measured in the literature?; (3) How is ‘place’ understood in the solastalgia literature?; and (4) Does the current body of literature on solastalgia engage with Indigenous worldviews and experiences? Overall, we find there is a need for additional research employing diverse methodologies, across a greater diversity of people and places, and conducted in collaboration with affected populations and potential knowledge, alongside greater attention to the practical implications and applications of solastalgia research. We also call for continued efforts to advance conceptual clarity and theoretical foundations. Key outcomes of this study include our use of the landscape construct in relation to solastalgia and a call to better understand Indigenous peoples’ lived experiences of landscape transformation and degradation in the context of historical traumas.

Highlights

Solastalgia, preliminarily and broadly defined as the distress caused by the transformation and degradation of one’s home environment [1,2,3], is a relatively new concept with particular relevance to the environment–health–place nexus
As Louv [7] argues, “if climate change occurs at the rate that some scientists believe it will, and if human beings continue to crowd into de-natured cities, solastalgia will contribute to a quickening spiral of mental illness” [7]
This study reviewed 15 years of scholarly literature on solastalgia using a scoping review process

Summary

Introduction

Solastalgia, preliminarily and broadly defined as the distress caused by the transformation and degradation of one’s home environment [1,2,3], is a relatively new concept with particular relevance to the environment–health–place nexus. Given the current speed and scale of climatic and environmental change, and the increasingly urgent calls to better understand the links between changing environments and human health, solastalgia merits further investigation and theoretical development [4,5,6]. As Louv [7] argues, “if climate change occurs at the rate that some scientists believe it will, and if human beings continue to crowd into de-natured cities, solastalgia will contribute to a quickening spiral of mental illness” [7]. Individuals and communities worldwide are increasingly witnessing the dramatic and chronic degradation of environments and experiencing a range of associated responses and impacts. The physical health implications of climatic and environmental change are increasingly well documented [8,9,10], the emotional, mental, Int. J. Public Health 2019, 16, 2662; doi:10.3390/ijerph16152662 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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