dorfer, 46, owns and runs cobblestone farm, a community-supported agriculture (csa) farm. she has invited university students to visit the farm and ask her questions.

as she shepherds the students back to the parking area, someone asks her how far in advance she plans for the growing season. it seems like a practical question with a straightforward answer, but she pauses, looks to the sky and sighs. “that’s actually more of a mental health question than anything else.”

mental health in farming

farming has one of the highest suicide rates of any occupation in the country, according to rebecca toms, communications coordinator for solid ground, a program created by uconn’s college of agriculture, health, and natural resources extension. the program aims to provide support, training, and a community of like-minded people to new farms and farmers around connecticut. 

as well as being a farmer herself, toms, 36, received her master’s degree in social work. her current role at solid ground has allowed her to use both of her fields of expertise. earlier this year, she hosted a series of webinars on farmer stress and solutions. 

farming fosters a certain culture that may make getting mental health help harder.  “within the farming industry there is a strong vein of self-sufficiency, which makes it hard to say ‘i have a problem,’” says toms. in agriculture, there are so many other problems to address first.

finances pose the biggest challenge to small farmers, followed by legal and land issues. in connecticut especially, land is prohibitively expensive, making it difficult to get into and stay in farming. moreover, supply-chain issues and inflation in recent years have dramatically increased the cost of raw materials.

many newer small farmers start their careers for emotional, physical, and spiritual satisfaction; both dorfer and toms cite these reasons. but small-scale farming is not a lucrative business. for some, the job itself is the yield. 

“my financial goal was to be able to afford to do the job,” says dorfer.

climate and physical stress

physical health is another major factor to mental health. the intensive labor of farming takes a major toll on the body. farming is not just time-consuming, but all-consuming: it takes up such a large part of a person’s life that it can put a major strain on their relationships. often, they have to choose between farming and their families.

some farmers cannot pull through and must leave the profession because they do not have the time, resources, or physical strength to continue.

these aspects are stressful enough by themselves, but climate change has been making the job increasingly difficult. rising temperatures, shifting season lengths, and changes in precipitation are just a few of the climate threats that loom over the farming industry. these factors make it hard to reliably predict and plan for the growing season; looking at the past year or two doesn’t provide enough data, yet looking too far into the past doesn’t help either due to climate change. “every year is new data,” says dorfer.

one weather anomaly can compromise an entire season’s worth of crops. a one-day spike or dip in temperature could kill off an entire batch; a false start to spring might cause crops to start growing early, only to be killed off by frost. 

secondary issues arise from the more direct effects of climate change. warmer winters allow insects that would otherwise die off during the cold weather to survive, increasing the number of pests that can damage crops. during droughts, mammals eat the vegetables for their water content. farmers then have to spend more money to keep the damaged crops alive and the pests at bay.

toms recounts a moment over the summer where thinking about climate change gave her a panic attack. “it’s terrifying,” she says.

dorfer says that this past summer was particularly hot and miserable; her work felt “demoralizing” and would sometimes make her think, “why am i doing this?” even so, she could not imagine doing any other job.

making resources available to farmers, toms says, is the most effective way to decrease farmers’ stress. this is solid ground’s biggest priority. a large part of their work consists of making things as easy as possible for farmers, as they have little time to deal with the many administrative aspects of farming. this includes facilitating access to legal help, assisting with grants and subsidies, and making farming supplies available and easy to find.

the movement for farmers’ mental health is very new, but toms is hopeful that it will gain traction and help farmers everywhere. “it’s something that’s just beginning, and personally, i hope i can be a part of it.”

1. in children, heat-related health problems are easy to miss

children are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, but the effects often appear in subtle ways. according to pediatrician dr. perry sheffield at the icahn school of medicine at mount sinai hospital, as many as 11% of emergency room visits in warmer months are related to heat, but most instances of heat damage to young bodies fly under the radar.

short-term issues like stomach aches and trouble focusing at school can seem fairly run-of-the-mill, but according to dr. sheffield these symptoms can be caused by exposure to heat, so they’ll appear more frequently as extreme heat becomes the norm.  more long term problems like kidney damage from regular dehydration and in-utero issues that arise from heat exposure are harder to trace back to heat. as periods of extreme heat become more frequent, it’s more important than ever to monitor the health of infants and children and keep them cool in the summer months. 

“we’re slowly coming to understand that heat has these insidious effects,” dr. sheffield said.  “we have a long way to go, but there’s many areas in which heat is potentially playing a role in child health.” 

2. underlying health problems can become exacerbated 

many physical effects of heat in adults already seem familiar – many people have experienced heat rash, heat stress and heat stroke, or know someone who has. but heat also has indirect effects on underlying health problems that are harder to track. sickle-cell disease is one such underlying problem that becomes a serious risk during heat waves. 

“up to three million people living with sickle cell trait are at a higher risk of sudden death during exercise in hot weather,” dr. sheffield said.  

other underlying health problems like cardiovascular diseases and poor kidney function become much worse when extreme heat comes into play as well. according to amruta nori-sarma, ph.d. at the boston university school of public health, the interactions between heat and underlying health conditions are still being explored.  

“i’m sure there’s a whole spectrum of other chronic health conditions with adverse events that are associated with extreme heat exposure,” nori-sarma said. 

3. black and brown communities are disproportionately affected

minority communities have historically fallen victim to race-based housing designations, and those policies have placed black and brown communities into areas that will be vulnerable to extreme heat and the health problems that come out of it. 

“less shade, fewer green plants, more pavement, all of these things are higher in the areas that were negatively impacted by these policies,” dr. sheffield said. “couple those things with conditions like lower car ownership, greater reliance on public transportation, and less access to transportation. that’s a dangerous combination.” 

4. mental health crises rise during heat waves 

a study recently conducted by the department of environmental health at boston university found a relationship between high temperatures in the summer and mental health-related emergency room visits. the study looked at a wide variety of mental health issues, including substance abuse, mood disorders, behavior disorders, self-harm, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

“as temperature increases, the rates of emergency department visits for mental health across all of the mental health causes that we’re interested in correspondingly saw an increase,” nori-sarma said. 

experts are not sure exactly why this is happening. “one of the things that we could hypothesize would be disrupted sleep periods that are happening because people are experiencing high temperatures, or even daytime discomfort or irritation,” nori-sarma said. 

other experts hypothesize that when temperatures rise, bodily resilience drops. earlier this year, neuropsychologist c. munro cullum told the new york times that agitation, irritation, and pain become less bearable when the body is struggling to cool down. “when we’re not comfortable, we’re not at our best,” said cullum. 

there’s still much research being done on the effects of extreme heat on mental health, but the correlation has been identified and city planners are responding. 

5. the path forward lies in infrastructure

experts are looking at new modes of city design to explore how heat-related health emergencies can be countered. the city of boston is leading the charge in building infrastructure to help beat the heat. their plan for adapting to higher temperatures includes adding more green spaces and shadier infrastructure. when boston mayor michelle wu declares a heat emergency, boston centers for youth and family are converted into cooling centers where anyone can come in to cool off. the future of climate preparedness in city design could look like something like boston. 

“city planning officials have already started the process of making communities more resilient in the face of extreme heat exposure,” said nori-sarma. “this is one of the great ways that we can start to prepare for and respond to extreme heat events that we anticipate happening into the future.”

“without the spiciness, the tomato doesn’t really have flavor, so they combine really well,” said balcazar, in spanish, according to sergio ruiz, one of the garden’s organizers. 

run by the little village environmental justice organization (lvejo), the community garden doubled its typical production during a slow, pandemic summer last year, indicating a local affinity for gardening.

“this just means that they love growing, they love harvesting, and they need access to the land,” said edith tovar, lvejo’s just transition community organizer. 

those not tending to their garden beds gathered around long tables under the central pavilion, chatting and playing mexican bingo. 

“we come here to destress. it’s therapeutic to weed and be with nature,” said little village resident gloria jimenez in spanish, according to ruiz.

as the covid-19 pandemic increased the nationwide prevalence of common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, and chicagoans turned to community gardening to counteract the symptoms. 

common mental health conditions during covid-19

studies conducted across the nation over the last year show an overall decline in mental health due to the pandemic’s restrictions. 

one in three people experienced psychological distress during the pandemic according to a study released this august led by elvira solji and a group of researchers in australia. 

solji and her team focused on the age-related differences in mental health impacts of covid-19 lockdown restrictions. they surveyed americans from april 20 to june 8, 2020, asking questions about nervousness, anxiety, depression, loneliness and more to gauge participants’ experiences of moderate mental distress. 

the study found that over half of 18- to 24-year-olds reported experiencing moderate mental distress, and that adults up to 44-years-old were most heavily impacted. 

in younger adults, moderate mental distress was associated with restrictions to public transit, restaurants, and international travel, while working from home lowered distress rates. moderate distress in older adults was related to the ban on gatherings of over 50 people and workplace closures. 

“the results imply that different approaches are needed both in the handling of mental health and restrictions for different age groups,” solji said in an email. 

insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety were the top four mental health conditions seen during the pandemic according to a study released in november. this conclusion resulted from the meta-analysis of 55 peer-reviewed journals conducted by the research team. 

a study conducted march to april 2020 also identified an increase in acute stress and depressive symptoms in the united states, and found that people with preexisting mental and physical health diagnoses experienced these symptoms more than those without.  

bronzeville-based psychologist lasonda a. wilkins-hines made similar observations of the chicagoans she treated. wilkins-hines said she most often diagnosed patients with clinical anxiety and clinical depression. she held appointments via telehealth and did not take on new patients during the pandemic. 

wilkins-hines, whose patients are predominantly african american, said she saw anxiety and depression peaked with the police brutality protests last summer. 

“that’s when things really made a heavy turn in my practice,” wilkins-hines said. “what i was seeing was a lot of people feeling uncertain, unsafe, confused, angry, feeling that hopelessness and helplessness.”

gardens that blossomed

community gardens across the city reported increased participation during the last two summers. 

sarah dugan, program facilitator for the city’s community gardens in the parks program, said in an email, “anecdotally, there was a big increase in inquiries for garden plots during spring and summer 2020, which seems to have tapered off to more typical levels this year.”

prior to last summer, the maxwell street garden in the near west side typically had a waitlist of five people, according to tess kearns, a board member and gardener there. 

“last year, we had a waitlist of 30 people and we had 15 plots available,” kearns said. apartments in the area with pool decks or community outdoor space closed those amenities last summer to prevent the spread of covid-19, she said. 

“there were a lot of people who didn’t get plots, but were desperate for the ability to be outdoors,” kearns said. “this year, our waiting list was 47 people.” 

to manage the increased interest, kearns said they adopted a friends of the garden program during the pandemic to invite volunteers to work on the community plots and take home some produce in return.   

the maxwell street garden became a place for participants to “clear their heads,” kearns said. “a lot of the stories [from last summer] revolve around just wanting to be outside after the mayor shut the lakefront down. last year was really hard.” 

mayor lori e. lightfoot closed chicago’s lakefront beaches from labor day weekend of 2019 through memorial day weekend of 2021 to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, according to a press release. the lakefront trail opened for exercise and transit with limited access and strict oversight june 2020; the status of the riverwalk and 606 was similar, according to block club chicago and nbc chicago articles. 

“we were like, ‘we’re going to the garden because it’s the one place you know you can be safe,’” kearns said. 

at the el paseo garden in pilsen, volunteer coordinator paula acevedo said they increased programming in response to “a spike in attendance.” 

“the space has been well-used during the pandemic,” acevedo said. “a lot of people were really dedicated to the garden. … people were saying the space kept them sane.” 

“it takes a village. it’s beautiful to be that conduit and platform for the community,” she said. 

health benefits of spending time in nature

a growing body of research illustrates the positive impact of spending time in nature on mental health. 

a study released january 2020 identified that spending two hours in nature per week created significant health benefits across age, gender, and geographic differences. the study broadly defined nature and emphasized that the two hours was a cumulative tally.

richard louv coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” in 2005 and has since authored several books on the health benefits of nature. 

“any green space will provide benefit to mental and physical wellbeing, so it mainly depends on individual preference,” louv said in an email. “more importantly is the frequency of those experiences. connection to nature should be an everyday occurrence.”

a 2017 study offered a list of the top impacts of spending time in nature based on an extensive review of existing research: reduced stress, better sleep, reduced depression and anxiety, greater happiness, and reduced aggression. 

different nature-based activities can impact the body in various ways. wilkins-hines shares her nature-based advice with patients based on the mental disorders being treated. in her practice, she focuses on clinical anxiety and depression, stress reduction and relaxation, and reiki, where she said she “manipulates energy to foster healing.”  

for patients with depression, “the [activities] that are most impactful are ones where you’re getting the sun because that’s going to improve your mood,” wilkins-hines said. she said the sun provides vitamin d that boosts serotonin, the “happy hormone.” 

“if you’re feeling suicidal and you’re feeling like you don’t belong, i encourage grounding techniques: to walk barefoot, to plant flowers, to plant vegetables – anything where you’re in the dirt and you’re bringing life to something,” wilkins-hines said. “you cannot change your way of thinking about the beauty of life [in a better way than] watching something grow into something, being responsible for the life of something.”

wilkins-hines said the impact of gardening extends beyond a specific physiological response in the body. 

“i think these community gardens afford people that opportunity to come together and share stories and to build interpersonal relationships, to network and to just give a sense of family, give a sense of connectedness. and all of that is beneficial for mental health,” wilkins-hines said.

the impact of nature and gardening on mental health has been known to many for years and prior to the pandemic.

kearns said she started to garden around the time she and her husband began the process of separation. 

“this is my happy place,” kearns said. “this was the place that i could just go and kind of forget about it. … i feel like it’s nourishment for your soul.”  

gardening can also help seniors and veterans, according to acevedo, who said seniors are el paseo garden’s largest demographic. 

while the pandemic may have intensified certain health conditions for seniors, acevedo said gardening helped their exercise, mental health and, for those who spent time gardening in earlier years, memory loss. 

acevedo also said the garden helped seniors feel less isolated, something the pandemic exacerbated.

“even their own families were afraid to go see them. they didn’t see their children and grandkids,” acevedo said. the garden added most of its new programming to benefit seniors, she said. 

acevedo said an afghanistan war veteran joined the garden from naperville, a 40-minute drive away, to volunteer his construction skills. 

“he said, ‘i’m on disability. i don’t work. i need to keep busy, or i’ll lose my mind,’” acevedo said. 

kearns said she thinks younger people have an easier time talking about mental health than older people. “everybody may be just as anxious, but nobody’s talking about it,” she said.  

louv advocates for children and families to spend more time in nature through his nonprofit organization, children nature network, to benefit all aspects of health within and beyond the context of the pandemic. 

“ironically, the coronavirus pandemic, as tragic as it is, has dramatically increased public awareness of the deep human need for nature connection –– and is adding greater sense of urgency to the movement to connect children, families and communities to nature,” louv said. 

“today, nature connection can be one way to heal psychological trauma of the pandemic. not a panacea, but one way,” he said.

the media has been vocal in speaking out about rising rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation in the general population. but what about the health of those diagnosed with a mental illness? a search of the new york times reveals that only 22% of articles on mental health published between oct. 1, 2020, and dec. 10, 2020, specifically covered the impact of mental illness. despite the rise of “wellness culture” and the fact that 70% of americans feel that the nation is now more open to discussions about mental health, 68% would oppose a relative’s marriage to a person with a mental disorder. mental illness remains one of the most stigmatized health conditions today. yet, according to the national alliance on mental health (nami), 20% of u.s. adults and 17% of u.s. children were struggling with a mental health condition in 2019. clearly, there is something very wrong with the way we are leaving the most vulnerable—those with mental illness—out of our discussions about mental health.

there are many categories of mental disorders, each with their own associated set of symptoms and characteristics. two of the most common are mood disorders and anxiety disorders. mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, are characterized by emotional states inconsistent with those expected of a particular situation. people with mood disorders may be unusually happy, irritable, or sad, or may cycle rapidly through multiple emotions. meanwhile, aptly-named anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive worry or fear, often in circumstances in which such emotions are not merited. examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

some mental health conditions, such as substance abuse and alcoholism, fall into multiple categories, including both mood and anxiety disorders. as opposed to adults without mental health conditions, those with mood and anxiety disorders are more likely to experience lower quality of life. many mood and anxiety disorders are so disabling they are considered protected disabilities under the law. and these mental illness can be deadly: as many as 90% of people who commit suicide have a diagnosed mental illness, although that number is inflated by the impact of more “serious” conditions such as personality and psychotic disorders, which tend to be more deadly than either mood or anxiety disorders.

but none of that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

a new study conducted in july 2020 by psychologists from the university of regina, the university of british columbia, and fordham university indicates that those with pre-existing mood and anxiety disorders are susceptible to higher levels of covid-19 related stress than the general population. dr. gordon j.g. asmundson, a clinical psychologist, and his team surveyed a group of 1,568 individuals with a mood disorder, an anxiety disorder, or no mental illness about stress and coping during the coronavirus pandemic. compared to the control group, those with mood or anxiety disorders tended to be more stressed about the impacts of the pandemic. these individuals worried most about contracting or being exposed to the virus. they also reported a higher rate of traumatic stress symptoms, which may include difficulty concentrating and making decisions, feelings of isolation, irritability, and numbness, and physical symptoms such as nausea, headache, and insomnia. these individuals also tended to struggle more while self-isolating, and were more likely to partake in ineffective coping activities such as playing video games, reaching out to friends, sleeping more than usual, and engaging in stress-shopping.

while those with anxiety disorders tended to be more negatively affected by covid-19 stressors than those with mood disorders, the study largely focused on the greater struggles for those with a mental illness compared to those without; additionally, findings for both mood and anxiety disorders alone could have been skewed by the high likelihood that many individuals with anxiety disorders also had mood disorders and vice versa. these findings are backed up by several other studies conducted during the covid-19 pandemic.

the implications of asmundson’s study can only be described as dire. despite the finding that those with pre-existing mental health conditions are more likely than others to experience traumatic stress symptoms because of covid-19, the pandemic has also limited access to mental healthcare. in a 130-country survey, the world health organization found that 67% of respondents reported reduced accessibility of counseling and psychotherapy. seventy percent of respondents reported that mental health professionals turned to telemedicine to fill the void, but virtual therapy can only do so much.

exposure therapy, the gold standard of treatment for many anxiety disorders, often only works in-person. in exposure therapy, sufferers are encouraged to gradually expose themselves to the thing they fear in a controlled environment. for example, a sufferer with contamination fears may be asked to touch a dirty surface and then not wash their hands. of course, this therapy can now be extremely difficult to administer without violating covid-19 protocols and putting both the patient and the therapist at risk of infection. and those with substance abuse issues often rely on in-person “mutual help groups,” such as alcoholics anonymous, that are harder to facilitate over zoom. job loss, loneliness, and lack of routine—all side effects of social distancing, and all risk factors for relapse in those with alcoholism and drug addiction—have likely contributed to higher rates of overdose during the pandemic. according to the overdose detection mapping application program, overdoses in may 2020 were up a whopping 42% from the previous year.

asmundson and his co-authors recommend “tailoring covid-19-related mental health interventions to meet the needs of people with pre-existing mental health conditions.” this is not just advice for psychiatrists and therapists—it applies to those who populate the (now-virtual) places where people with mental illnesses live, play, and work. yet we continue to ignore the significant challenge that over 20% of american adults struggle with on a daily basis. forty-seven percent of companies haven’t paid any attention to mental health in the workplace during the pandemic. among those that have provided support for employee mental health, the majority do not offer programs specifically for those with pre-existing mental health conditions. 

clearly, our treatment of mental health during the covid-19 pandemic points towards a larger societal problem: the way we view people with mental illness. when people without mental disorders experience symptoms of depression and anxiety during covid-19, it’s considered a normal reaction to stress, covered widely in media outlets, and supported by workplaces. a full 44% of companies that offer mental health counseling as a benefit only started doing so after the coronavirus pandemic hit, introducing many non-mentally ill people to challenges that those with mental disorders have faced for years. and 60% of americans feel that depression, the most common mood disorder, is the result of a character flaw rather than a genetically- and environmentally-influenced health condition. fifty-eight percent don’t want to work with a person with a mental illness. it’s no surprise, then, that while non-mentally ill people talk loudly about the impact covid-19 has had on their mental health, nami warns those with mental disorders that sharing their diagnosis is “risky.” 

there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging and providing support to those who have been newly impacted by mental issues during the covid-19 pandemic. but while many of us are struggling with mental health during this prolonged period of isolation and anxiety, there is overwhelming evidence that those with mental illness are struggling even more. yet rather than following asmundson’s advice and meeting the needs of those with mental health conditions, we are doing the opposite—keeping those with mental disorders out of sight and out of mind at a time when they need more support than ever before. in the end, the hidden mental health epidemic of covid-19 is just that: people with mental illnesses being swept under the rug just when mental health is becoming a common topic of conversation.

from the news to the workplace to our personal interactions, those with diagnosable disorders are left out of the conversation about the impact of covid-19 on mental health. the pandemic should have been a golden opportunity to change the way we think and talk about mental illness: as normal, human, and, with the right support, treatable. instead, it has reinforced the ways in which those with mental disorders are ignored, stigmatized, and seen as “other” in everyday life. unless we start paying attention to the needs of those with mental disorders, we are in for a long, at best depressed, and at worst, deadly spring—and not just because of covid-19.

it’s four in the morning on an early-march day, and 22-year-old jacob “valhalla” myers awakes in a hammock next to a group of people he has just met. a storm is set to move in, so they’re getting an early start on tackling blood mountain, the highest peak on the georgia section of the appalachian trail. 

“we’re walking up the mountain, in pairs essentially,” said myers, a sapphire, north carolina, native and employee at a concierge business. “the entire world is asleep right now, and you can just see people marching single-file, in a line, their headlamps bouncing off in the distance, illuminating the sides of these mountains. it was the first moment of ‘what the hell are we doing?’ it’s too magical for me to properly describe.” 

that trek up and over blood mountain is just a miniscule, if mystical, portion of the roughly 2,200 mile-long appalachian trail, stretching across the eastern united states from georgia to maine, and thought to be the longest hiking-only trail in the world. 

each year, according to the appalachian trail conservancy (atc), thousands attempt to thru-hike the entire trail. about 1 in 4 makes it the whole way. 

and making it the whole way was myers’ mission, after preparing for about a year and a half for his thru-hike. but when covid-19 first struck the globe early this year, halting the daily activities of, well, everyone– appalachian trail thru-hikers exited the trail and left behind their dreams of conquering it. at least for now.

in early march, sandra marra, president and ceo of the appalachian trail conservancy, asked registered thru-hikers to leave the trail in an email. later, marra issued a public statement about the importance of this recommendation.

so, on march 16, after 17 days and over 200 miles of hiking, myers exited at newfound gap on the north carolina-tennessee border, in what he describes as a “morbid, soul-crushing heartbreak.”

“they (the atc) told us all, ‘we need you to be considerate of these very sensitive and fragile trail towns with no hospitals and retirement-age folks,’” myers said. “and i could relate to that because that’s the kind of place i grew up in…i knew i was getting off for a morally sound reason.” 

still, myers’ rich tales from his short time on trail speak to the magnificence of such a journey. in past seasons, hikers fortunate and skilled enough to successfully complete an appalachian trail thru-hike, such as 24-year-old kyle “narnar” o’grady, got to experience this magnificence in its entirety.

growing up in burlington, vermont, o’grady became interested in hiking and backpacking in high school, which is when he first learned about the appalachian trail. by the time he was 22 and fresh out of college, o’grady felt “compelled” to pursue his long-time goal of thru-hiking it.

preparing for a thru-hike

it took o’grady about four and a half months to complete the over 2,000 miles of the appalachian trail, but he was no novice. the atc estimates that an average thru-hiker takes five to seven months to finish the trail. regardless, a thru-hike does not happen without some preparation.  

“i had never done a hike this long…but i’d backpacked for a number of years,” o’grady said. “i had kind of been preparing ever since i started hiking…i always had this goal in the back of my mind.”

o’grady never set out on a particular plan to prepare himself for the trail, unlike myers. having set his thru-hike start-date of feb. 29, 2020 — eight months in advance — myers trained extensively. each morning of last summer, he ran 2.5 miles of hills, rain or shine. on the weekends, myers would try to get in an extra-long day of training.

“i would go to a place i had never been in the woods and just hike, and that worked really well. the variety that the at offered was exactly like what i had done, going to these foreign places,” he said.

collecting just the right durable, lightweight, weatherproof gear for a thru-hike is a challenge in itself — and one that does not come without cost. the total retail price of everything on myers’ gear list, itemized on thetrek.com, comes to a whopping $2,731.74. 

stories from the trail

alone, but not really 

according to those who know the trail best, thru-hiking often starts as a solo venture but rarely ends as such. apart from the communities of people common to their ‘normal’ lifestyles, thru-hikers find that human connection thrives even in the backcountry. 

hikers who begin the trail around the same time and keep a similar pace end up sharing plenty of nights at camp together. 

“it’s the best of both worlds. people would just do their own thing during the day… so you can go as fast or as slow as you want,” o’grady said. “and then at the end of the day, at camp, you can still get that camaraderie and kind of reflect on the day.”

myers knew before ever stepping foot on the trail that it “was going to suck,” but ultimately found solace in the communal suffering of his fellow tired, hungry, unshowered thru-hikers. the support of those he met also helped him cope with the decision to leave the trail.

however, when 25-year-old audrey aug embarked on the trail, her close friend, hannie glenn, was by her side. after a venomous spider bite forced aug to leave the trail on a prior attempt, she met glenn while they worked at the same starbucks. though glenn had no prior backpacking experience, she wanted in on the action for aug’s second attempt. the pair successfully completed their thru-hike in september of 2019.

“we’re all the more friends for it… being able to start and finish together means that we’ll always have the inside jokes and so many things to relate to,” aug said.

meeting other people on the trail was one of the aspects of thru-hiking that sydney king was looking forward to most. after three years of preparation, the 26-year-old native of fort smith, arkansas, had planned to start an appalachian trail thru-hike on april 15 of this year, having worked several aspects of her life around the trip. she ultimately decided to cancel her hike given the atc’s recommendations surrounding covid-19. 

“imagine you’re with thousands of people that are doing the exact same thing you’re doing,” king said. “i feel like there’s a lot of camaraderie in that aspect… i was excited.”

‘valhalla or bust’

thru-hikers embrace a new way of life during their time on the trail, even altering their monikers. in a trend not unique to those on the appalachian trail, hikers adopt special “trail names,” sometimes chosen by themselves and sometimes awarded to them by other hikers. the names can be as odd as “spreadsheet” and as valiant as “sherpa.” but the common thread running through all of them is a story.

myers chose “valhalla” for himself, a glorious afterlife for warriors in norse mythology.

“i have a brother who’s deployed to kuwait, and we always say ‘valhalla or bust’ no matter what happens…,” he said. “valhalla is an afterlife you have to earn. you can be a good person, you can think the right things, but you actually have to go out into life and take life for everything that it is worth to enter into the halls of valhalla.” 

perhaps more serendipitously, aug was officially deemed “rooster” after other thru-hikers took notice of her red hair and the fact that she was always first to awake at camp in the morning.

meanwhile, king still awaits the opportunity to get her trail name. before pursuing her career goal of working for the federal bureau of investigation, she is hoping for that chance in the 2021 thru-hiking season. 

katahdin

standing 5,269 feet tall in the middle of maine is mount katahdin, but for thru-hikers traveling northbound, it is no ordinary mountain. katahdin marks the northern terminus of the appalachian trail, signifying the accomplishment of a lifetime and the end of a 2,200-mile journey for every thru-hiker who has stepped foot on its peak. 

“it was a wild feeling going up, thinking that this is the last time i’m going to have to hike up a mountain for a long time,” aug said. “there’s this overwhelming feeling of relief, and sadness…it’s bittersweet.”

reaching the peak was “surreal” for o’grady. he was able to summit katahdin with a couple of other thru-hikers he had met and camped alongside for long sections of the trail.

“i’m not really even an emotional person but…it still kind of makes me choke up a little bit when i think about it,” he said.

readjusting

on the other side of katahdin comes the reality for thru-hikers of adjusting back to life before the trail. following the completion of his thru-hike, o’grady had just two weeks before starting his first job out of college in software development. 

“i was just hiking for so long, and now i’m, like, in a cubicle,” he said. “that was not great at first.”

lessons from the trail

even amid the uncertainty surrounding the covid-19 pandemic, the spirit of appalachian trail thru-hikers and thru-hiker-hopefuls is alive and well. those from years past cherish their memories from the wilderness, while 2020-hopefuls have now become 2021-hopefuls. 

though he spent just 17 days on it, myers left the appalachian trail with plenty of inspiration. on one particularly chilling night at camp, a kind gesture later became a symbol of something more. 

“before we even make introductions, this fella…made me a cup of hot chocolate. he just goes, ‘you look like you could use this.’ even in that harsh environment… you can still find some of the epitome of human decency in those moments,” he said.

myers added, “that’s (one thing) i’m so happy to be seeing out of covid. because everyone is suffering together, everyone can pick each other up, and that’s very akin to the trail community at large.”

researchers mengyao li, susana ferreria, and travis smith examined data between 1993 and 2010 on temperature and on self-reported mental health obtained from a state based health survey system under the center for disease control and prevention. cooler days were found to reduce the probability of reporting bad mental health days whereas hotter days, mostly after ten consecutive days, increased this probability. the probability of frequent mental distress (more than 14 days of bad mental health for the past month) was even higher during these hotter days. 

three years prior to these findings, a study published in environmental health perspectives concluded that exposure to air pollution was also related to poor mental health. long-term exposure to particulate matter (pm 2.5) was associated with depression and anxiety, and short-term exposure to pm 2.5 was associated with suicide. pm 2.5 are fine inhalable particles that can be emitted directly from sources, such as construction sites and unpaved roads, or through complex chemical reactions of pollutants emitted from power plants and automobiles. 

the release of new research on temperature and mental health is a concerning addition to the psychological health effects humans could face from air pollution. understanding these implications, li and the other researchers suggested future studies examine how community-level factors impact the mental effects of climate change. 

“i think it’s necessary to know how community-level factors like neighborhood environment, social cohesion, and also individual adaptation actions like use of air conditioning or migration, whether those things would help mitigate the effect of temperature on individual mental health,” li said. 

at local levels, air pollution is often worse in lower income areas, where industrial facilities or highways serve as point sources, increasing exposure. speaking on both temperature and air pollution, li said, “the two factors combined together would pose extra pressure on people that have more exposure in those communities.”

as poorer and less developed communities will ultimately bear the mental burdens of increased air pollution combined with hotter days, it is clear that climate change is not the great equalizer. this health disparity will grow as increased temperatures will only exacerbate the mental health decline of exposed communities. 

at a local level, air pollution varies throughout the district of columbia and is generally higher in the seventh and eight wards which are historically low-income and often minority neighborhoods. this inequality is left unaddressed because the environmental protection agency aggregates air quality data from their six high-cost monitoring stations, labeling the district with the same pollution levels despite drastic differences between communities.

fresh air d.c., a student-run and community focused research project about air quality at george washington university, seeks to create the first and only community level network of low-cost air quality monitors. these monitors would serve to fill the gaps in pollution level data throughout the district’s wards. aitana mendiguren, a student working on community outreach for the project, said, “we mainly want to educate and empower community members of wards seven and eight who are exposed to higher local levels of air pollution. using our sensors they will be able to actually monitor their community-levels with real data.”

while fresh air d.c. stresses the physical health effects of air pollution, the recently discovered associations between mental health and global warming only further support the necessity for their efforts. “people living in these wards need the hands-on tools to understand how their health is a risk,” mediguren said. 

healthy you: surviving a pandemic is a co-production of the george washington university milken institute school of public health and the school of media and public affairs.

as an environmental epidemiologist and pediatrician, she shares the potential effects of covid-19 on children, the importance of maintaining your mental and physical health during the pandemic, and advice for parents during social distancing.

listen here: 

some of the recent initiatives around gw include efforts to study the response to the pandemic in eurasia, michael keidar’s work to develop new medical equipment, and endeavors to understand how the crisis is affecting the arctic. keidar recently won a nsf rapid award for his research to decontaminate the environment and to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.

a key question for social scientists working with human research subjects is how to conduct research in crisis conditions. a couple of recent articles provide some good advice. 

in a recent contribution to nature, j. c. gaillard and lori peek offer a variety of ways to be sensitive to ethical dilemmas and power imbalances. their main advice is to be sure that the research efforts keep the interests of the local population as the foremost priority. in proposing a code of conduct for researchers working in crisis conditions, they suggest: 

1. having a clear purpose
2. respecting local voices
3. coordinating locals and outsiders

another recent article in disasters by kathryn falb et al, offers five practical pieces of advice for institutional review boards (irb), the organizations on campus that authorize research work with human subjects. the authors offer advice on how to quickly obtain irb approval for research, address the traumatic experience of participants, deal with difficulties in obtaining meaningful consent, and ensure reviews have sufficient knowledge of the population’s needs.

in 2019, the national academy of sciences published a report on “science during crisis.” the authors argue that “a central, curated clearinghouse for data and scientific information can improve scientific collaboration, speed up analyses, and build public trust.” in other words, we will all benefit if everyone works together. 

crisis communications play an important role in this effort. there is a lot of incorrect information circulating about the pandemic and leaders need to identify ways to make sure that people have the facts. evidence from past infectious disease outbreaks shows that simple interventions with correct information do not always work and we need to find more effective solutions. 

hopefully careful research will make it possible to provide helpful advice in addressing the challenges posed by the pandemic and other crises our society is currently facing.  

to learn more about gw’s sustainability efforts, visit sustainability.gwu.edu.