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The climate crisis is increasingly weighing on the mental health of children and young people, experts have warned.
Rising levels of “eco-anxiety” – chronic fear of environmental disaster – were likely to be underestimated and damaging for many in the long run, public health experts said.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Mala Rao and Richard Powell, of the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London, said that eco-anxiety “is likely to exacerbate health and social inequalities. between people who are more or less vulnerable to these psychological impacts ”.
Although not yet considered a diagnosable disease, recognition of eco-anxiety and its complex psychological effects was increasing, they said, as was its “disproportionate” impact on children and youth. .
In their article, they highlighted a 2020 survey of child psychiatrists in England showing that more than half (57%) see children and young people distressed by the climate crisis and the state of the environment.
A recent international survey of climate anxiety among young people aged 16 to 25 showed that the psychological burdens of the climate crisis “are deeply affecting many of these young people around the world,” they added.
Rao and Powell called on world leaders to “recognize the challenges ahead, the need to act now and the commitment needed to pave the way for a happier and healthier future, leaving no one behind.”
The research provided insight into how the emotions of young people were linked to their feelings of betrayal and abandonment by governments and adults, they said. Governments were seen as having failed to respond adequately, leaving young people “without a future” and “humanity doomed”.
Their warning comes a week after Greta Thunberg lambasted world leaders, rejecting their pledges to deal with the climate emergency as “blah, blah, blah.”
In April, she quoted Boris Johnson, who derisively used the term “rabbit hug” to describe climate activism. Thunberg said: “It is not a green, politically correct and costly act to hug a rabbit.”
By 2030, carbon emissions are expected to increase by 16%, according to the UN, rather than halving, which is the reduction needed to keep global warming below the internationally agreed limit of 1.5 ° C.
Rao and Powell said it was important to look at what could be done to alleviate rising levels of climate anxiety.
“The best chance to increase optimism and hope among eco-anxious young and old is to ensure that they have access to the best and most reliable information on mitigation and adaptation. to climate change, ”they said. “Information on how they might connect more strongly with nature, contribute to greener choices at the individual level and join forces with like-minded communities and groups is particularly important. “
Separately, new research also published in the BMJ suggests that changing unhealthy behaviors may be the key to achieving zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Theresa Marteau, from the University of Cambridge, said technological innovation alone would be insufficient.
Adopting a largely plant-based diet and doing most journeys using a combination of walking, cycling and public transport would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve health, he said. she declared.
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