INVESTIGATING ECO-ANXIETY AND RESILIENCE IN ENGINEERS WORKING IN CLIMATE-SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Engineers in climate-sensitive locations are grappling with psychological difficulties, specifically eco-anxiety, the constant worry of environmental catastrophes, and the need to sustain their occupational performance, necessitating psychological fortitude. This research examines the psychological eco-anxiety burden of engineers working in ecologically sensitive coastal infrastructure projects, renewable energy projects, and environmental remediation sites. We employed a mixed methods design to survey 142 engineers and carry out semi-structured interviews with 27 participants. Our findings reveal eco-anxiety and climate hazard proximity, job role, and organizational support structures are strongly correlated. Moreover, engineers with higher resilience scores had lower stress reactivity and greater adaptive capability. Our findings illustrate the need for engineering institutions and policymakers to embed psychological climate-related multi-stakeholder frameworks of well-being in conjunction with technical preparedness. Recommended and proposed actions to combat eco-anxiety include the implementation of resilience training, climate risk communication protocols, and peer-support frameworks. This paper proposes novel climate engineering psychology frameworks for performance and engagement with evidence-based approaches to fostering climate adaptable workforce sustainability amidst climate instability.