**Table 1.** *Cont.*


#### **7. In Conclusions: Pastoral Theology in the Era of Eco-Anxiety**

This article has studied the challenges and possibilities related to eco-anxiety for pastoral care. Many observations have been made about therapeutic encounters in general, including various forms of spiritual care. The wider context related to pastoral theology as a whole has been much present and is given more attention in these final comments, together with its relation to eco-theology.

The recent efforts to integrate ecological theology and pastoral theology (see LaMothe 2016; McCarroll 2020; Swain 2020; cf. Clinebell 1996) are very relevant for the topic of this article. This article has focused on the emotional and psychosocial dimensions of ecological issues, but naturally, the wider spheres of action and various forms of proenvironmental behavior are interrelated with the psychological dimension. Action may help to channel eco-anxiety constructively, but if there is no space for emotion work, people may burn out (Ray 2020; Hoggett and Randall 2018; Nairn 2019). Indeed, some environmental organizations nowadays include eco-emotion workshops and support procedures in their work (see, e.g., the discussion in Weber 2020). There may thus be an element of pastoral care in the ecological activities of congregations and other collectives, and the explicit offering of such support is an important thing to consider.

In general, participating in various kinds of environmental action usually helps with various difficult eco-emotions, and there is a rich literature about various ways in which religious communities can participate in this (see, for example, the materials produced by ecumenical and denominational environmental movements, such as Laudato Si' Movement 2022; A Rocha 2022; World Council of Churches 2022). The potential strengths and challenges for various denominations in encountering eco-anxiety is a topic for future research (for some reflections on certain denominations, see Pihkala 2016a; Ward 2020).

Various kinds of rituals can be organized in relation to eco-anxiety and other ecoemotions (Pihkala 2021), and sometimes, rituals related to ecological concerns have implicit dimensions related to the processing of eco-emotions (cf. Fredericks 2021). While these rituals are maybe not pastoral care per se, if the caregiver is aware of these kinds of methods, they can be recommended to people on suitable occasions. Engaging in spiritual practices can help both the caregiver and the "client" to process their eco-anxiety (cf. Malcolm 2020b). The author has written elsewhere of the need for religious leaders to work critically with eco-guilt, eco-anger, and ecological grief and sadness in spiritual care, rituals, and wider action (Pihkala 2022b). Case examples in English are available, for example, about ways to encounter ecological shame via creative Christian worship (Powell 2019) or ecological grief via outdoor spiritual practices (Hirschfeld and Blackmer 2021; see also many articles in Malcolm 2020a).

The education and formation of pastoral care providers is an area that needs attention in relation to eco-anxiety. First of all, many who undergo such training are young of age, and many of them feel eco-anxiety in some form. They require support from their teachers (cf. Pihkala 2020b). Second, students can be taught constructive ways to encounter eco-anxiety, as has been the aim in Calder and Morgan's pioneering approach (Calder and Morgan 2016). Teaching about eco-anxiety and eco-emotions should be included in theological seminaries and universities. Furthermore, pastors, counselors, and other providers of pastoral care may find it difficult to devote time to learn more about contemporary issues such as eco-anxiety in the midst of their daily life and work. One potential means to help in this is to organize workshops where various professionals focus on environmental issues, including their emotional dimension. Various frameworks have been applied to the process of transformation of identity and attitudes that the ecological crisis requires, such as the "ecological conversion" championed by Francis (2015) and the "affective transformation" delineated by environmental scholar Verlie (2022).

It is notable that anxiety researcher and philosopher Kurth (2018) discusses the positive sides of anxiety often through the examples of religious figures, such as John Woolman and Martin Luther King. Kurth points out that it was exactly anxiety that caused these people to act: they felt problematic uncertainty about moral issues, and this anxiety did not let them go. They were able to cultivate anxiety as a moral emotion and not to stifle it or run away from it. This dynamic can be the positive power of eco-anxiety: if it does not become too intense, it causes people to "stay with the trouble" (see Haraway 2016) and search for ways to practice morality and responsibility, even amidst ambiguous circumstances. Religions may offer people sources of existential resilience, which help to bear eco-anxiety, but this needs effort and intention since religion can also become a hiding place from the troubles of the world.

**Funding:** This research was supported by a personal gran<sup>t</sup> from Finnish Cultural Foundation, granted in February 2019 (no gran<sup>t</sup> number given).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** The author expresses gratitude to the two anonymous peer reviewers for their feedback about how to improve the article.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
