Climate depression is real. And it is spreading fast among our youth | Peter Kalmus | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/climate-depression-youth-crisis-world-leadersThe climate mental health crisis is already hitting those who have lost everything in worsening climate infernos. It’s already hitting farmers in Australia, India and elsewhere who face serious and sometimes insurmountable challenges growing food in a rapidly changing climate (which, incidentally, should be a climate wake-up call for anyone who eats). It’s hitting Indigenous and vulnerable communities, for whom climate breakdown is the culmination of centuries of colonial and social oppression. It’s hitting parents, who feel unable to protect their children; I sometimes cry while talking about climate breakdown when I think about my kids. And of course, it’s hitting young people.
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A recent survey by a team of psychologists probed the climate anxiety felt by 10,000 young people aged 16-25 from countries in the global south and north. In the survey, 77% said “the future is frightening”, 68% feel sad, and 63% feel anxious. 39% feel “hesitant to have children”. This distress correlates with a belief that climate action from governments is inadequate
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Therapy can help people struggling with climate anxiety and depression; but since climate emotions are driven by real, intensifying, physical processes on Earth, therapy only treats the symptom. Something that helps me is being part of a vibrant community of activists. I could not handle the weight of this knowledge if I had to do so alone.
However, as everything gets worse – and unfortunately it will get worse – we’re all going to need more than friends, as important as they are. We’re also going to need a sense that, collectively, society is finally heading in the right direction, with emergency speed
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It is psychologically devastating to feel climate and ecological catastrophe closing in every day while watching those in power not only failing to act, but actively making things worse by expanding the fossil fuel industry. Instead of more empty words and distractions, humanity desperately needs real action. World leaders must orchestrate a rapid end to the fossil fuel industry, for the sake of us all – but especially for the sake of young people.