SoFU's Neil Chadborn appeared on BBC East Midlands Today last night, talking about COP 26 and 'eco-anxiety'. Watch it again here.

Ahead of the COP 26 Climate Conference, Neil spoke about the value of connecting with green spaces, an area of research he is currently involved in:

"Firstly, we need to acknowledge that climate change will have greatest impacts on low income countries and cause displacement of people. However in this country, we are starting to see increasing extreme weather events – and in my research on the health impacts of climate change, this is possibly the priority. Flooding and heatwaves can cause death and injury, with longer term impacts such as bereavement and post-traumatic stress disorder. Heatwaves are likely to be worst in urban communities, whereas flooding may impact rural communities and newly built housing on floodplains. Longer term stress include becoming homeless, losing business and financial problems of not being able to insure your home.

The Catch-22 is that political action on climate change requires people-pressure, and yet Extinction Rebellion and other protests can cause stress and a kind of divisiveness in public discourse. We can feel a sense of uncertainty, possibly triggering anxiety and depression, particularly if we feel powerless to do anything about it as individuals.

We are studying some interventions for this – looking at how greenspace, and bluespace, can alleviate stress and anxiety. This can work on three levels; for example, getting involved in a community garden project can improve physical activity, it can also improve social interactions and feeling part of a positive effort. But the fascinating thing is that just being, or looking, at the natural environment can ease our stress levels and be therapeutic for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. We have studied improving greenspace for care home residents, and we have a new PhD student studying therapeutic horticulture for bereavement, depression and anxiety."

Nottinghamshire has been selected as one of seven pilot sites, testing 'green' social prescribing. Find out more about the project here.