New York therapists see surge in eco-anxiety as smoke fills skies: ‘Every client addresses it’

Gantry Plaza state park in Queens, New York, as haze and smoke from the Canadian wildfires shroud the Manhattan skyline. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

As Kim Saira scrolled through TikToks showing a curtain of yellow smoke descending over New York, she felt a panic attack coming on. Though she lives an entire coast away from the crisis, Saira began to fear for her parents, who are essential workers in Queens.

“I had to completely turn off my phone, because I was getting so anxious,” said Saira, a Los Angeles-based healing coach. “My chest hurt, I felt like I couldn’t sit still, and I started pacing around. I couldn’t do any work.”