Climate Change
According to NASA, the climate of the world is the long-term weather patterns that envelop local regions, from the smallest towns to the entire planet we inhabit. Climate change is the term used to describe these patterns changing, and often these variations can be detrimental in times of environmental stress.
Environmental to Human Stress
Global warming is defined as the long-term heating of the Earth's surface. As many individuals are aware by now, the rising warmth of Earth can be attributed to fossil fuel burning and other human activities. NASA records the ever-growing heat and records 2016 and 2020 as having some of the highest temperatures, with around 1 degree Celsius above the 1951-1980 baseline. The growing temperatures provide an obvious climate change, visible to all individuals, specifically fierce young people.
A study was conducted on articles relating to adolescents' climate change experience. In the study, newspaper articles were categorized, with two categories being ideas under fierce young activists and ultimate saviors, or the solution to climate change resting in young people. Fierce activists can be described as vigorous advocates who desperately want to take a stand on climate change and spread the word about the changing world they are currently growing up in. Ultimate saviors view themselves above the mindset of a simple advocate, believing that young people are the only ones who can change the world due to their martyrdom. These models function as a new mindset in adolescents worldwide. The generation of young people is showing an initiative to change their environment and fix a problem, which greatly differs from the neglectful mindset of the previous generations who were not as strongly advocating for a solution to climate change. Instead of adopting a fearful approach due to ignorance of not understanding the complexity of the climate crisis, children become stressed and anxious over climate change due to an inability to provide an effective and quick solution, and not from a lack of not comprehending the situation.
Adults who have a higher cognitive ability to understand climate change respond differently. Adults tend to be enveloped by their child's eco-anxiety, whether they suppress the anxiety or experience it themselves. The anxiety causing the drive of activists in young people is on both ends of the spectrum with many parents. Many support a child's activism and see it as a way to foster a new motivation, while others mock it due to their own beliefs and lack of open-mindedness. The feeling of fear and impending doom of the environment can be described as eco-anxiety, an anxiety that ranges from mild stress to PTSD and depression. Eco-anxiety is only on the rise; a survey in 2021 found that more than half of people aged 16-25 felt negative emotions or anxiety when discussing climate change. The emotional response of adolescents and young adults can be greatly affected by not only the outside environment but also by household environments with varying levels of supportive guardians influencing the mindset of their children.
Climate Change Made for Kids
Communication serves as an essential component in helping manage an adolescent’s anxiety and mental health. As seen in research through COVID-19 and other periods of change, climate change needs to be communicated in a simple and fragmented method. It is a delicate topic, but one necessary to address. The methods of delivering information should not be fluffed up and desensitized as it is key for children to be as well informed as adults to ensure a high comprehension yet stable psychology is maintained. The delivery of information can cause more advocacy in people of all age groups.
Ellen Peters and Renee Salas, affiliated with the New England Journal of Medicine, provide two essential ways to promote climate advocacy through new ways to communicate statistics, and by encouraging individuals to take the initiative to combat climate change. Communicating statistics less in numeral form like percentages, but by being more descriptive and engaging with an audience by narrating their information with emotion and passion. Delivering information with more emotion allows a clearer picture to be painted by forming a personal connection to an audience's future and how they play a role in climate change. Encouraging the drive to fight climate change through providing physical solutions like calling elected officials about more eco-friendly energy sources like solar energy has been linked with higher confidence. When adolescents have a stronger comprehension of climate change and ways to combat the changing world, they are more likely to act on finding a solution rather than lacking the confidence to advocate for change.
Delivering urgent statistics can only increase the anxiety of an adolescent. In a modern world full of media, more children are becoming connected to news outlets about the climate crisis. The over-saturation of this coverage in children can cause anxiety that stems from climate change, and other global disasters. Communicating and reassuring children of effective behaviors to calm them helps balance out the feeling of impending doom harming adolescents.
Children are one of the most susceptible populations to the current changing world. Climate change only continues to increase and cause rising temperatures due to intense human activity. Though the statistics may be frightening to children, proper communication is crucial to support children on their journey to understanding the world. When the true impact of climate change is understood, the anxiety fostered in children turns to strength and determination, the cornerstone of an era of change.
Written by: Dominick R
Citations:
Benoit L; Thomas I; Martin A. “Review: Ecological Awareness, Anxiety, and Actions among Youth and Their Parents - a Qualitative Study of Newspaper Narratives.” Child and Adolescent Mental Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34687125/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.
Communicating Statistics on the Health Effects of Climate Change | Nejm, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2201801. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.
Pearson, Helen. “The Rise of Eco-Anxiety: Scientists Wake up to the Mental-Health Toll of Climate Change.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 10 Apr. 2024, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00998-6#:~:text=A%20global%20survey%20in%202021,response%20to%20the%20climate%20crisis.
“What Is Climate Change?” NASA, NASA, science.nasa.gov/climate-change/what-is-climate-change/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2024.
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