The impact of open-pit mining in mountainous areas on eco-anxiety and future images of the place

Abstract

The article analyzes how environmental pressures affect future images of a place and can produce ecoanxiety. We explore these themes via a qualitative study which included semi-structured interviews, observation, and document reviews. The study centered on the municipality of Putaendo, Chile, a region deeply impacted by environmental changes arising from climate change and agribusiness activities which is now facing the advance of an open-pit mining project. Our results show how transformations in the natural environment can affect individual and collective human well-being. The future image of the total destruction of a river by mining can generate ecoanxiety, expressed within the personal, family, and work levels, given the possible loss of land and water as resources for material sustenance and as an essential part of their identity. Ecoanxiety exposes local concerns over the ontological security associated with a sense of place which is under threat. In this way, ecoanxiety can be understood beyond the psychological impact linked with potential ecological changes. We also explore how expected landscape changes adversely affect the relations between people and their environment, activating organized responses to re-evaluate and protect the places which people care for via diverse cultural actions.