An international study shows that fear of climate change has a major impact on young people’s everyday lives. Many feel betrayed by their governments.
Frankfurt – The fact that younger people are dealing with climate change is nothing new. International youth movements like Fridays for Future have been fighting for a stronger political commitment in the fight against the climate crisis for years. In addition, climate change has long ceased to be a utopian concept – as the flooding in the Ahr valley in Germany demonstrated. And that is felt especially by young people. Because they grow up knowing that the effects of climate change will primarily affect their generation.
An international study from Great Britain has now examined the psychological effects of climate change on younger people on a larger scale for the first time. The researchers focused in particular on the question of what feelings the climate crisis triggers in younger people and what they think about the actions of their government. A team led by psychologist Elizabeth Marks from the University of Bath interviewed a total of 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in ten countries. Countries include France, Finland, Great Britain, Australia, the United States, Portugal, Brazil, India, the Philippines, and Nigeria. The team published the results in advance as a preprint in The Lancet.
Study from the UK: Majority of young people are afraid of climate change
More than 60 percent of respondents said they were “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about climate change. Over 45 percent also said that their feelings about climate change would negatively affect their daily life and how they functioned in everyday life.
Over 50 percent of respondents said that they had already felt sad, fearful, angry, powerless, helpless and / or guilty in connection with the climate crisis. The least frequently reported feelings were optimism and indifference. 77 percent said they were afraid of the future. “These are chronic stress factors that have significant, long-lasting and increasing negative effects on the mental health of children and young people,” the researchers write.
Dealing with the climate crisis: Young people feel betrayed by their governments
In addition, young men and women in particular, who tend to live in southern or poorer regions of the world, have expressed an increased fear of the climate. People who have already been personally affected by climate change through extreme weather disasters such as floods, forest fires or heat waves have also expressed their concern.
Of those who said they spoke to others about climate change, nearly half said that other people ignored or dismissed it. Added to this were feelings of betrayal due to a lack of government responses. According to the researchers, a correlation can be observed here: Climate fear and feelings of stress and helplessness are particularly pronounced among those people who do not feel that their governments are taking the climate crisis seriously.
Fear of the future and climate change: failure of government is moral harm
The failure of governments to adequately deal with climate change and its effects on younger generations constitutes a “moral violation”, the research team judged. The governments must therefore finally begin to take appropriate measures.
The world climate conference COP26 will take place in Glasgow from October 31st to November 12th. Which measures are decided here will be groundbreaking for the future – especially for those of young people. (Anna Charlotte Groos)
