Solastalgia is psychic or existential distress caused by environmental change, or by change to a place that has been familiar. Coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, solastalgia combines the Greek root -algia, meaning pain, and solas-, suggesting both desolation and a lack of solace. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Solastalgia”
A word you’re probably going to be hearing more and more of in the coming years is solastalgia.
Oh, I’ve heard this. I’m not sure I remember what it meant, though.
I saw it in your double-tongued dictionary on our website.
What does it mean?
Nostalgia, S-O-L-A-S-T-A-L-G-I-A, refers to a form of psychic or existential distress that’s caused by environmental change or a change to a place that you know well and have taken comfort in.
It was coined by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2003.
It’s like nostalgia, but it also combines the words solace and desolate.
And the idea is that, say, your town was destroyed by a wildfire or your home in Appalachia was destroyed by strip mining.
Or you see an environmental situation that’s getting worse and worse, maybe the Arctic melting or something like that.
Solastalgia is the term that more and more people in the field of philosophy and psychology are using.
So it’s the loss of something that you want solace in?
Yes, exactly.
Gotcha. And so it’s the feeling that you get when these things start to disappear.
Yeah, particularly in your environment.
I guess it could be like, you know, you go back to your old neighborhood and the buildings are gone.
Right, right. What’s an empty lot there now or another Starbucks?
Yeah, solastalgia.
