When Jennifer Uchendu first began climate organizing in Lagos more than a decade ago, her energy was directed outward on action. She founded SustyVibes, a youth-led nonprofit that has since trained and mobilized many young people across Africa to take measures toward a more sustainable future. But in recent years, her attention has turned to a more granular aspect of the climate crisis—toward the unseen sub-crisis of eco-anxiety, and the often-overlooked role of rest in sustaining long-term change.
As part of her ORA Research Grant, Jennifer explored a radical but deceptively simple idea: what if doing nothing was a climate strategy? “Our experience of eco-anxiety as Africans is entwined with injustice,” she explains. “We cannot look at it only through a clinical lens. Rest, for us, is not an indulgence—it’s a form of resistance.”
Jennifer has interviewed many thought leaders across Africa about rest, resilience, and how “doing less” might reshape the way changemakers confront the polycrisis. She also produced the WEAL podcast, hosting conversations on rest as a practice of justice and collective well-being.
“We’re in a time where we need social experimentation. We need mycelial social experimentation, not as a guarantee for solutionism but as a way for testing subjectivity.”
—Bayo Akomolafe, Philosopher, Writer, Activist & Guest of the WEAL Podcast
Doing Nothing is Doing Something
What does “doing nothing” look like in a capitalist world? Jennifer has been experimenting with this question in her own life—slowing her pace of work, saying “no” more often, and making space for silence. She is learning from global peers who are exploring similar practices: a climate retreat in Plum Village, France, focused on inner self transformation, a retreat for women of color by Climate Critical in the U.S., and observing the work of activists in Singapore, Colombia, and beyond.
For Jennifer, rest is not about stepping back from the climate crisis, but about reshaping how we meet it. In a time when environmental activists face burnout, political pressure, and compounding eco-anxiety, rest becomes fuel for creativity and community.
From Eco-Anxiety to Collective Care
Jennifer’s interest in climate change and mental well-being began in 2019 when she and other members of the SustyVibes community began to witness and speak out about the immense mental stress they felt as environmental advocates. When she got an opportunity to study development in the UK, she chose to research eco-anxiety more deeply. She wrote her master’s thesis on eco-anxiety in youth climate activists in the UK, framing the phenomenon not only as a psychological issue but as a justice issue.
That inquiry has since grown into The Eco-Anxiety Africa Project, creating contextual spaces for Africans to explore the links between climate breakdown and mental health. She and her team now train other youth nonprofits to weave mental health practices into climate work, making well-being an integral part of climate activism.
Building a World That Knows How to Rest
Jennifer’s work continues through SustyVibes, where she and her team are experimenting with creativity as a form of resilience—inviting young people to bring art, play, and imagination into climate action. The Eco-Anxiety Project continues to build evidence and practice at the intersection of climate change and mental health.
Her vision is simple but profound:
“A world that knows how to rest.”
It is a vision where changemakers can slow down without guilt, where communities can draw on intergenerational wisdom, and where rest itself becomes a radical pathway toward resilience. It is from rest that we can make space for empathy; the world is currently grappling with a crisis of care, and perhaps, stepping back and slowing down can remind us to listen deeply for what is most needed.
Learn more about eco-anxiety and the TEAP Initiative at SustyVibes.
