Whenever Namdev Kamble, a 77-year-old farmer from Shirdhon village in Maharashtra, visits a doctor, he is overcome by memories of the trees that once surrounded his home. “We live in the same area today, but everything around us has changed completely,” he says, his voice heavy with nostalgia.
Years ago, Kamble’s village was shaded by giant tamarind, neem, babul, and Hinganbet trees. These natural guardians provided coolness and a sense of comfort. But over the years, these trees were felled to make way for broader roads, houses, industries, and commercial crops like sugarcane.
“I feel anxious and nervous. I miss something, even though I live in the same place,” Kamble admits. This emotional distress he feels is solastalgia the pain of environmental change at home, a term coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht. Unlike homesickness, solastalgia occurs when one remains in their homeland but watches it degrade.
Kamble vividly remembers the Balanites aegyptiaca trees that once dotted the village. “We used to wash clothes with the pulp of its fruit,” he recalls. Today, not a single such tree stands in Shirdhon.
These environmental changes have wreaked havoc on Kamble’s farmland. Heavy rains that once drained quickly now linger for over eight days, ruining crops and homes. Rising temperatures and recurring floods have amplified his sense of loss and disconnection from the land he loves.
Kamble’s distress is not unique. A government report from 2024 revealed that 50% of India’s climate-affected population suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Floods alone affected more than 218 million people between 2015 and 2020.
Recurring floods have forced Kamble to visit the doctor over 150 times in five years. Chronic stress has led to severe body pain, inflammation, and hypertension. His wife, Tayna, has taken over the fieldwork, saying, “Earlier, he never fell sick, but now he visits a doctor almost every 15 days.”
Shirdhon’s plight mirrors a broader crisis in India. A study by the Center for Science and Environment found that India faced extreme weather events on 255 out of 274 days in the first nine months of 2024. In rural Bihar, climate change has disrupted traditional customs and farming practices, causing emotional distress. Similar stories of solastalgia have emerged worldwide, from flood-hit Australia to communities in the U.S. and U.K. bracing for environmental losses.
Like Kamble, 67-year-old Shakuntala Mohite from Kurundvad remembers the lush greenery of her village. She recalls how she and her friends would rest under the shade of trees during long walks to the fields. But floods in 2019 and 2021 devastated her home and left her emotionally scarred. She too stopped farming and now suffers from anxiety and frequent illness.
Mohite rarely speaks about her feelings. “Who should I share such emotions with?” she asks.
Community health workers, like Sharada Jagtap, are stepping up to address the mental health fallout of environmental change. Jagtap regularly visits flood-hit households, encouraging people to share their feelings. “While this might not completely heal them, it offers a sense of safety,” she says.
Experts like Susi Ferrarello warn that solastalgia, if untreated, can become chronic. “It forces individuals to retreat into fear, living with the constant threat of another traumatic experience,” she explains.
As development accelerates, the connection between people and nature erodes. Kamble mourns not just the loss of trees but the bonds they symbolized. “What will the young generation know of what the world looked like earlier?” he asks.
The absence of those trees and the memories they hold haunt Kamble every day. “It’s difficult to live with this,” he says. For him, the scars of environmental loss are not just physical but deeply emotional, shaping his every step on land that no longer feels like home.
