Healthearth Network - Newcastle, Australia
Theory - Solastalgia - History

History of Solastalgia 

• 2002 Glenn Albrecht makes radio appearances on Upper Hunter ABC radio talking about the impact of mining on Upper Hunter residents and environment
• 2002 - February 2003 Hunter Valley residents contact Glenn Albrecht to speak of their distress in the face of continued expansion of mining in their area
• 2003 February – April Glenn Albrecht works on the idea of “place-algia” in which one’s home becomes a source of distress rather than comfort, building on the concept of ‘nostalgia’, the sickness caused by yearning for one’s home while absent from it
• 2003 April, at home in Newcastle, Glenn and Jill Albrecht create the word ‘Solastalgia'.
• 2003 April 18, Glenn Albrecht writes the first description of his new concept of Solastalgia
• 2003 September,  Glenn Albrecht presents the concept to an audience for the first time at the Montreal Ecohealth Conference
• 2004 Creation of Healthearth Network website www.healthearth.net with page devoted to theory of Solastalgia
• 2004 September  in London, Ontario, Glenn Albrecht gives presentation to audience of medical practitioners on the idea of Solastalgia
• 2004 First international refereed paper on Solastalgia submitted for publication in PAN (Philosophy, Activism, Nature)
• 2005 August, concept is presented to environmental groups in Panaji, Goa and New Delhi, India
• 2005 Solastalgia article Solastalgia: A New Concept in Health and Identity published in PAN (Philosophy, Activism, Nature) Issue 3,
• 2005  The concept is presented as part of a paper at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists conference in Australia in a presentation on the Psychological Impact of Drought in Eastern Australia by colleague Gina Sartore, May 2005
• 2005 Judy Skatssoon publishes an article in News in Science (ABC) titled: Drought prompts new type of mental stress. ABC Science Online, 24 May, 2005  from interviews with Glenn Albrecht, and Gina Sartore (University of Newcastle Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, NSW) on the application of Glenn Albrecht’s concept of “solastalgia” to explain the distress of rural residents facing prolonged drought.
• 2006 Google search shows 7 pages with reference to Solastalgia
• February 2006, Glenn Albrecht gives an interview on ABC Radio National program Bush Telegraph on the subject of Solastalgia
• Early 2006, Glenn Albrecht publishes international essay on Solastalgia in the Canadian journal Alternatives
• April 2006, reference to Solastalgia in article in Sydney Morning Herald
• June 2006, Bega World Environment Day talk on Solastalgia and the Tyranny of Big Decisions
• June 2006, Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority Forum, Glenn Albrecht Guest Speaker on Solastalgia
• 2006 November,  Cairns, Glenn Albrecht and Gina Sartore give a joint presentation on Solastalgia and its application to open cut mining in the Hunter Valley and drought in Eastern Australia – paper accepted for publication in the Australian Journal of Psychiatry, March 2007
• 2006 Feature articles published in the Daily Telegraph, and the Higher Education Supplement of The Australian newspaper
• March 2007 Glenn Albrecht creates Healthearth BLOG with article about Solastalgia
• December 20, 2007, USA journalist Clive Thompson publishes an article about Solastalgia in Wired, creating international awareness of the concept
• January 2008, Google search now shows 21 pages of internet references to Solastalgia
• January 2010, New York Times Magazine article Is there an ecological unconscious? by Daniel B. Smith gives greater prominence to the concept, and introduces Soliphilia to the international audience
• May 2010, Glenn Albrecht gives a TEDx presentation in Sydney on Solastalgia and Soliphilia, and other media appearances