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​The Climate Emotions Wheel from Climate Mental Health Network is based on Panu Pihkala's 2022 paper, Toward a Taxonomy of Climate Emotions. Sarah Newman initiated the creation of the wheel. Anya Kamenetz led a Climate Mental Health Network team in collaboration with Pihkala to develop the wheel in 2023. The wheel is available for non-commercial reuse. For attribution purposes, please include the CC and CMHN logos. Please contact us for any commercial inquiries.

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Why is naming your climate emotions important? Research suggests that simply recognizing and labeling a negative emotion, such as anxiety or fear, can reduce its intensity. For example, brain imaging research from Matthew Lieberman’s lab at UCLA has shown just labeling our negative emotions can reduce the experience of distress as well as decreasing activity in the emotional centers of the brain, like the amygdala. Renowned psychiatrist and author Daniel Siegel refers to this as “Name It to Tame It”. The climate emotions wheel is a tool that can be used to help identify and bring awareness to your emotions as the first step to coping with them effectively.