Climate change impacts are increasingly evident worldwide, though some regions are more affected than others. The temperate climate of Central Europe has long shielded its inhabitants from disruptive climate change consequences contributing to psychological distance. Still, change progresses and mountain areas are among the first to show clear signs. The negative transformation of individually and collectively valued places can be experienced as loss. The distress caused by place-based loss can be conceptualized as solastalgia. Existing research on solastalgia has predominantly focused on Australian and Indigenous communities with strong place dependence for their livelihoods. Less is known about if and how solastalgia manifests in communities whose connection to the land is primarily recreational.
In this study, we applied the concept to the European context, focusing on winter sport athletes in the Austrian Alps. Winter sport athletes directly witness environmental changes in the mountains yet dependent little on them beyond recreational activities. The study draws on 28 in-depth interviews with long-term winter sport athletes (aged 23-68).
Participants highlighted the lack of snow and melting glaciers as subjectively meaningful changes. But not only climate change impacts elicited emotional responses: The expansion of tourism and commercial infrastructure was a second source of disruption. Tourism expansion was associated with immediate, manifest losses. Climate change impacts additionally signalled ongoing and future environmental degradation, fostering anticipatory solastalgia. Valued places connected to childhood memories were lost and the emotional quality of winter sports inhibited. These manifest and anticipated losses disrupted both individual and collective identities and fuelled intra- and interindividual conflicts.
The findings give insights into the multi-layered psychological consequences of climate change and their interactions with other human-made developments. Environmental losses are experienced by different communities worldwide, with implications for mental health as well as behaviour.