From the climate crisis, to the pandemic and criminalisation of protest – 2021 has been a difficult year. The winter months are a good time to reflect on how activism affects our mental health, and what practices we should engage in to make our journey as campaigners more sustainable.

Since the Glasgow Climate Pact was signed, media portrayals of COP26 have been polarised between framings of success and failure. But in order to sustain and increase political pressure, we must move away from binary thinking and bring more nuance into our communication.

Five years after the Paris agreement, many of us still avoid taking climate change seriously. What role do cultural identity and psychology play in climate denial and how can we inspire the changes we need to see?

Spending time outdoors has been scientifically proven to benefit our wellbeing. I had the pleasure of speaking to Karolina from London Wildlife Trust. In our interview, she speaks about the importance of socialising in outdoor settings and the effects of this on mental health.

Wildfires, a melting arctic, rising sea levels – many will recognise the deep unease these headlines create within ourselves. While concern about the future is a normal response, an increasing number of people experience profound feelings of depression and grief relating to the environment.

In recent decades, rates of depression have exponentially risen to become the second leading cause of disability worldwide, closely followed by anxiety. At the same time, we are faced with the pressing issues of social inequality, environmental destruction and climate change.