Climate change leaves youth fearing for the future

(SOUNDBITE) (English) 24-YEAR-OLD CLIMATE ANXIETY SUFFERER, ELOUISE MAYALL, SAYING:“The time I realised, oh, no, this, this isn't good was I was reading a book and it was about lots of different, like social justice movements, all different sorts of, not even necessarily climate-related, and different groups that had tried to campaign with different things. // I finished it and I just cried, and cried. And I was feeling angry, isolated and overwhelmed that so many people were trying to do so much, and I felt completely paralysed and unable to contribute to any of it."

“Feeling like I wasn't really able to do anything because there would always be a negative consequence of that.”

“Should I have bananas because they're brought by, from a different country? Is that fair? Should I have those?”

“What I'd be left with is maybe the sense of shame, like, ‘how dare you still want lovely things when the world is ending and you don't even know if you're going to have a safe world to grow old in. What are you doing?”

Overwhelmed, sad and guilty – these are some of the emotions young people say they feel when they think of climate change.

It's a term broadly referred to as climate anxiety.

24-year-old Elouise Mayall is an ecology student at Britain’s University of East Anglia.

She says climate change leaves her feeling overwhelmed.

“And then on a maybe slightly darker note, you realise, well, the only way I can ever really have a minimal impact is if maybe I just didn't exist at all, which is not particularly pleasant thought to have.”

And she's not alone.

Research into climate anxiety has stacked up to measure its prevalence ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

A study funded by Avaaz, an online campaign network, surveyed 10,000 young people aged 16-25 in ten different countries.

Around three quarters of those surveyed said they considered the future frightening.

And 45% said a lack of action by governments and industry led to them feeling anxious and distressed.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) 22-YEAR-OLD PASSER-BY, KRISTEL HASANI, SAYING: “Being part of the society in the 21st century, I think it's very hard to ignore the increasing climate problems.”

(English) 20-YEAR-OLD PASSER-BY, SAM LANDIS, SAYING: “I definitely do feel anxious about it.”

(SOUNDBITE) (English) 33-YEAR-OLD PASSER-BY, KAREN SHAW, SAYING:“I think anxiety is just the new name of the game for my generation and future generations.”

Caroline Hickman is a phsycotherapist and lecturer at the University of Bath and one of the research co-authors.

She is working to help young people manage their climate-related emotions.

“Seventy five percent worldwide think the future is frightening. Four out of 10 are hesitant to have children because of climate change. And over half - 56 percent of children and young people worldwide think that humanity is doomed.”

Over half of those surveyed - 64% - say governments are failing young people.

One young person who isn’t afraid to hold governments to account is climate change activist Greta Thunberg.

She herself says she has experienced severe climate anxiety.

“It's a quite natural response, because, as you see, as the world is today, that no one seems to care about what's happening. I think it's only human to feel that way.”

For now, she is hopeful because she is doing everything she possibly can.

And it's a sentiment Elouise Mayall shares as well.

“The planet is in trouble. I'm worried about it. You know, it's my empathy. It's my wanting to care. It's maybe my anger about those who have had injustices put upon them. I think the issue is when it starts sort of overwhelming and starting to affect your functioning, and that's when we need to figure out and be careful about it and manage it. But I definitely don't want anyone to think that it’s something that's bad to have necessarily or wrong to have, because it ultimately means that you're facing the problem head-on and you're trying to figure out things to deal with it and you're worried and caring. I mean, I'd much rather everyone have at least a manageable amount of eco-anxiety because there is a very real threat that we're dealing with, than to completely deny it.”