An international survey of nearly 10,000 young adults has revealed that tomorrow’s leaders feel “betrayed” by older generations when it comes to managing climate change.
Published in Lancet Tuesday, it is the largest study measuring the response of young people to environmental policy or, rather, the lack of it.
Responses from thousands of participants from 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States) pointed to significant anxiety caused by the conversation about climate change.
About 75% of 16- to 25-year-olds agreed with the statement “the future is frightening,” while about 60% said they are “very” or “extremely concerned” about climate change. More than 50% believe they have fewer opportunities than their parents at their age. In addition, approximately 40% hesitate to become parents for fear of taking a child to a searched and lonely wasteland.
Mitzi Tan, a 23-year-old environmental activist from the Philippines, told the Guardian that young people are being “betrayed because of government inaction.”
Therapy will not “fix” your anxiety, he offered. “To really address our growing climate anxiety, we need justice.”
It is not the first study to suggest that young adults hesitate to enter what many consider the next stage of life: starting a family. A smaller study last year suggested that up to 96% of adults are “very” or “extremely” concerned about the impact of climate change on their current or potential offspring.
They have a right to worry, according to a recent editorial co-signed by more than 200 top-level medical journals. They warn that climate change will cause “catastrophic damage to health” globally, and call for “emergency action” by world leaders.
And the children will be the ones left to deal with the devastation. In a new report, specifically the first to index the impact of climate change on children, UNICEF suggests that these are “children’s rights”, estimating that one billion of them now have an “extremely high risk” of being affected. in negative impacts associated with the climate crisis.
“Climate and environmental shocks are undermining the whole spectrum of children’s rights, from access to clean air, food and safe water; to education, housing, freedom of exploitation and even their right to survive. Virtually no child’s life will be affected, “UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.