The WHO recently released a “Mental health and Climate Change” policy brief. Climate change, it says, “exacerbates many social and environmental risk factors” for mental health. Its proposed solutions are predictable: more funding, greater commitment to international climate agreements, and increased government intervention.
Climate anxiety, also known as solastalgia, eco-anxiety, environmental distress, ecological grief, or climate-related psychological distress, per the WHO, may well be a real phenomenon. And its implications extend beyond skipping school to protest. A survey of 10,000 people age 16 to 25 noted 45% said climate anxiety negatively affects “their daily life and functioning.” Another 75% say the future is “frightening.”
In a 2019 Yale study, 1 in 3 responded they were “very worried” about global warming. Others have cited climate change as a reason not to have children. Young people, according to the WHO brief, “report feeling impairing distress and a sense of betrayal and mistrust of government in the face of climate inaction.”
No kidding. After growing up hearing politicians claim climate change is an “existential threat” and doomsday predictions about the world becoming unlivable, of course they’re going to be anxious about the future. They have been betrayed. Not by inaction, but by politicians who love stoking fear and using the climate issue to gain power. The WHO’s analysis conveniently ignores the impact of a relentless focus on devastating, end-of-world scenarios by politicians and media.
A recent New York Times piece featured the patients of one psychologist specializing in climate anxiety. Part of his strategy is teaching clients to “manage their news intake.” One client was taught to quit “doomscrolling” through climate articles late at night.
Messaging undoubtedly drives many fears facing young Americans. Meanwhile, their fears are being validated. One Stanford researcher interviewed by the Smithsonian Magazine argues that climate anxiety is “actually a very healthy and normal response” to the threat. Legitimizing feelings is important, she believes, though allowing them to hinder daily functioning is a problem.
Anxiety about the climate is not normal. Teenagers shouldn’t feel like the fate of the world is in their hands.
A Vox writer, who otherwise believes climate change will be bad (potentially resulting in species extinctions), still argued on Wednesday for rethinking the messaging given to children, opting for a more positive presentation of the issue to encourage innovation and learning.
“I imagine the tendency of advice for kids about climate change to urge them to challenge their grownups, recycle, ride bikes, and attend protests is out of a well-intentioned urge to give them advice they can use right now,” Kelsey Piper writes. “But I worry it sets them up for frustration, and is fundamentally not very honest about how they can solve climate change.”
It’s especially dishonest when the consensus is so poorly defined and the solutions doubtful, at best. As Stephen Moore recently wrote for the Washington Examiner, proposed switches to wind, solar, and electric energy would take a significant toll on the environment, requiring massive amounts of resources and the industrialization of the natural landscape.
Maybe the solution to climate anxiety is a little simpler than investing more in fruitless international treaties such as the Paris Agreement. Maybe people should just spend more time outside instead of reading endless articles about the climate. The American Psychological Association affirms spending time outdoors improves mental health, especially as people increasingly use technology for longer periods.
Katelynn Richardson is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
