Plastic-triggered anxiety on the rise
WALKING down a supermarket aisle lined with plastic wrappers is enough to set off ‘‘massive anxiety’’ for Marcail Parkinson.
The 17-year-old Auckland high school student feels dread, and shopping trips can become ‘‘quite overwhelming’’.
Before the plastic bag ban, if Parkinson forgot to take reusable bags to the supermarket she would walk out ‘‘feeling really, really bad about what (I had) just done’’. A plastic-wrapped purchase created an ‘‘overwhelming sense of guilt’’.
Parkinson isn’t alone. Counsellors and psychologists are seeing an increase in patients presenting with plastic-triggered anxiety – particularly young and environmentally conscious Kiwis.
Parkinson, a School Strike for Climate leader, said the movement was about systemic change, but she still felt pressure about about her own consumer choices.
‘‘It does get really hard – is it worth buying this for the guilt I’m going to feel?’’ she said.
Clinical psychologist Jackie Feather was ‘‘aware of particularly young people developing plastic anxiety’’ and Anxiety New Zealand Trust has seen an increase in people seeking assistance for environmental-related anxiety during the past year. That included plastic use and global warming chief executive officer Sarah Woollard said.
‘‘Many young people especially are seeing a raft of messaging online around the use of plastic and the environment and this is contributing to feelings of worry for some.’’
She encouraged those with long periods or high levels of anxiety to seek support.
Psychologist Janelle Kumar said anxiety could be sparked by the realisation that personally eliminating plastic wasn’t having a bigger impact.
‘‘Focusing on the bigger picture will always create more anxiety.’’
Association of Counsellors president Christine Macfarlane said constant information fed that anxiety, particularly with children being exposed to more news.
‘‘In the past parents would say, ‘that’s an adult issue’.’’
She compared plastic anxiety to ‘‘existential anxiety’’ like previous generations’ fears of nuclear war.
Kapiti mother Deidra Sullivan agreed.
Her 11-year-old son had plastic and environment anxiety and had become fixated on the idea that the world ‘‘was past the point of no return’’ unless radical changes were made before 2030.
‘‘He can get quite wound up, like if he notices we’ve bought plastic he has quite an emotional response to it.
‘‘There is nothing ultimately reassuring you can say without feeling you’re misrepresenting the situation either.’’
To help with his feeling of helplessness, he wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and ‘‘found it reassuring’’ to get a reply.
Joseph Stockhausen, 20, a beginner in his low-waste journey, was surprised when he started sweating and wanting to flee during a ‘‘suffocating’’ visit to his local supermarket in Auckland three weeks ago.
‘‘It hit me. The sheer amount of plastic that was everywhere . . . absolutely everything (was) covered in plastic, even in the produce aisle.’’
A toothbrush ‘‘decays over 400 years, how many do I use in a year?’’
The ‘‘exhausted’’ university student sought advice from the Zero Waste in NZ Facebook group and was met with more than 100 comments from people also experiencing plastic anxiety. ‘‘It was like, ‘right, I’m not alone’.’’
‘It does get really hard – is it worth buying this for the guilt I’m going to feel?’ MARCAIL PARKINSON, ABOVE
organisations (NGOs) have also been invited to attend Labour’s one-day conference, at no cost.
Journalists and diplomats are also regular attendees at the weekend-long convention.
Labour general secretary Andre Anderson said it was important for the party to listen and talk to business leaders.
‘‘We have invited a number of NGOs to attend as well for free to contribute their perspective.
‘‘The prime minister will only be attending during the lunch break in her capacity as Labour leader.’’
That’s an important distinction, as the Cabinet Manual states: ‘‘Holding ministerial office is regarded as a full-time occupation and is remunerated as such. Accordingly . . . accepting additional