Patricia Szabo

MES Candidate

Email: pcrisanszabo@uwaterloo.ca

I am a master’s student in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo. I have previously completed a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in International Development at University of Waterloo. I am interested in the impacts of rapid environmental changes on mental health and wellbeing, specifically the psychological distress and the ability to cope with that distress. My research explores the relationship between ecological distress and human distress, which can be called ‘solastalgia’, first coined by Glenn Albrecht in 2003. The case study for my research is located in Chilika Lagoon, India and focuses on the local fishers who have experienced rapid changes in their home environment and the lack of control over those changes.