Tompkins Weekly      7-10-24

By Sora Takahashi

There are many studies that show the negative effects of climate change on mental health and teenagers may have it the worst. This is a collection of statistics and studies based on how teenagers are affected by climate anxiety.

According to Sarah Lowe who is a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health, climate anxiety is distress about climate change and its impact on the landscape and humans. This can entail intrusive thoughts or a feeling of hopelessness and fear of the long term effects from the issue. Lowe also says that there are different constructs related to climate anxiety such as ecological grief (the feeling of sadness based on observed changes in the ecosystem), and Solasaliga (a feeling of nostalgia for how things used to be in the environment).

Photo by Li-An Lim via Unsplash

Anthony Leiserowitz, founder and Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, noted in a Q&A about climate anxiety that worry is not the same thing as anxiety. Worry is a healthy emotional motivator to help you do something about an issue, the problem starts when that worry is overwhelming and gets in the way of you living your life, which is when it turns into anxiety, according to Leiserowitz.

I surveyed 13 teenagers between ages of 12-17 and their parents about how climate anxiety was affecting them mentally. Then lay out the results on a scale of 1-5 with one being the lowest.

When asked how much climate change worries them, 84% of the 13 teenagers ranked their climate worries at three or higher. When asked the same question, 60% of the parents replied with the same ranking.

When asked if they think that young adults are more mentally affected by climate change, 38% of the teenagers responded “yes” and 30% responded with “maybe”. The majority of the teens said that they thought it could be possible that young adults are more affected mentally by climate change because they would be the ones who have to deal with it in the future, even if there are adults who worry about the issue.

The majority of the parents answered “maybe” to the same question, but 40% answered “yes”. Many of the adults said that young adults could be more affected because of the exposure they have to news about climate change and its effects. Some of the parents also said that climate change has been part of a young adult’s life from the moment they’re born, whereas adults were not born with that concern so may be affected less.

Ace Dufresne is a member of the Sunrise Ithaca Youth Movement, a local chapter of the national movement that engages young people in solutions to the climate crisis. Dufresne says that they generally think that young adults are more affected by climate change because teens will ultimately be the ones experiencing the effects. “While it is important that youth are valued and centered in this conversation, climate change is ultimately something that affects all of humanity and it is crucial that even older folks recognize the stake they hold in these issues,” they noted.

Alana Eckardt is a homeschooled 9th-grader who shared her thoughts on climate anxiety. “It doesn’t worry me extensively, I can think of other things and not have it be like a shadow in my head, but I definitely think of it a lot and worry about it a lot because it’s everywhere,”  Eckardt said. “It worries me because not enough people are doing enough about it.”

When asked what she thinks people should be doing she answered, “I think that if individuals did do more it would help, but they can only do so much and it’s really the big corporations that are getting a lot of money from the stuff they do that need to change. Like oil companies and big things that are making the biggest impact that are the hardest to change.”

I also asked the 13 teenagers and their parents what they do to try and reduce climate anxiety and worry. Many responded with “nothing” or saying that they try to block it out. A few of the teens answered that they sign petitions or try to be part of the solution with their families.

A survey of nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students done by Yale School of Public Health showed that collective actions and activism helps young adults deal with climate anxiety. The researchers found that climate anxiety was linked to symptoms of depression only in the students who were not involved in activism to address climate change. The students who were engaged in collective activities were not anxious to the point where it was linked to depression.

Sora Takahashi is a homeschooling teenager who lives in Ithaca, NY. Signs of Sustainability is organized by Sustainable Finger Lakes.