Climate change despair has never been higher — but experts say hope is still possible

Julie France is a 34-year-old Millennial in Denver, a high-altitude Colorado city theoretically safer than other places from one of the most conspicuous ravages of climate change: hurricanes, such as Helene and Milton, the pair of hurricanes responsible for recently battering the Southeastern United States. Aware of climate change from a very young age, France has spent her life making choices about driving, meat consumption, buying locally and other carbon-sensitive issues with the global crisis in mind. She continues to be mindful of global heating as an adult, telling Salon that “it does impact my everyday decisions.”

France’s experience echoes similar decisions made by  hundreds of millions of Millennials who are likewise aware of climate change — often painfully so — and must plan their futures accordingly. For decades, scientists and sociologists alike observed that Millennials have been growing up disenchanted with the future, being the first generation constantly aware of the changing climate. Now the next  generations are also succumbing to that uniquely modern version of existential despair... but experts say hope is not lost for any generation.

A recent survey study Lancet Planetary Health found, using data of more than 15,000 16-to-25-year-olds, that human-caused climate change is impacting the mental health of 85% of young Americans. This includes overwhelming majorities of Democrats and independents (96% and 86% respectively), as well as nearly three out of four Republicans (74%). The study comes with potentially serious political consequences, as respondents of all ideological persuasions wanted more government action on the environment.

More than three out of five report feeling anxious, powerless and/or angry because of climate change, while almost two out of five say it impacts their ability to function daily. More than half (52%) report basing their decisions to have  children on the reality of climate change, with more than two-thirds (69%) saying it also influences where they choose to live.

But one of the main takeaways from this research is that feeling despair about the climate is not unusual. Lead researcher Dr. Eric Lewandowski, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University told Salon that “it's clear from this study that if you are feeling anxious or concerned about climate change, you are not alone! Very much the opposite. That creates a potential for change.”

“The study shows widespread distress among U.S. adolescents and young adults about climate change, and that climate change is affecting their expectations and plans for the future,” Lewandowski said. “The study of course indicates that young people want decisive action from elected and business leaders, but it also shows really anyone who is concerned with the well-being and mental health of the younger generations that they have an important role to play as well.”

And there is still time for meaningful action on climate change, as the crisis has not degenerated to the point where absolute catastrophe cannot be averted.

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“It is still possible to avert warming of 1.5º C or 2º C” above pre-industrial levels, the threshold many climate scientists regard as a crucial point of no return, University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann told Salon. “The obstacles aren’t physical or technological, they’re entirely political at this point.”

Mann, who was not involved in the study, added that he knows firsthand that both Millennials and Gen Z feel despair about their future because of climate change. He recalled a focus group performed with University of Pennsylvania undergraduates which found climate anxiety arises from two different sources: “a sense that it’s too late to act, and a sense that our politics are too fraught to address the climate crisis. The first is easily alleviated — the science tells us it’s not too late to avert the worst impacts.”

While Mann acknowledged that the political situation “is more challenging,” he added that “it is my hope that the upcoming election will show that science, reason and justice can prevail in our political system.”

According to Dr. Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist who was likewise not involved in the study, the underlying problem is the way in which people in power are still consciously choosing to prioritize fossil fuel profits and power over the lives and futures of young people. “Society in general is supporting this decision due to intentional disinformation from the fossil fuel industry but also because of fossil fuel comforts and convenience,” Kalmus, who emphasized his opinions are his own, told Salon.

Lewandowski urged young people to do more than vote, but also “go a step further to think what ways you can get involved in trying to help tackle the problem. Worry is our signal to act and taking action helps, especially when we take action with others.” Instead of feeling like passive and helpless victims, people can join activist organizations or talk to “climate-aware mental health professionals and resources,” which can be found online. It can also be helpful to explain to climate change deniers how their actions are harmful to them.

“Well over half of the respondents in this study who said they have tried to talk about climate change said that they have felt dismissed or ignored,” Lewandowski said. “If sharing concerns about climate change with others and having them validated is helpful, then denial of climate change and related distress can have the opposite effect.” Speaking from his own experience, Lewandowski noted that “this can feel like a rejection which can be disorienting and alienating.”

Despite this perhaps understandably hostile reaction, Mann told Salon that it is never productive to direct anger against innocent people, particularly by indiscriminately blaming the older generations.

“I think the anger, to be righteous in nature, has to be directed at the bad actors who have blocked climate progress: fossil fuel executives and petrostate authoritarians,” Mann said. “Many elders are actually working hard to effect the needed change.”

Kalmus had his own hopeful note: “We have the alternatives we need: solar, wind and batteries,” he said. “It’s just a question of taking power away from the people who are blocking that transition due to prioritizing their bank accounts over all of life on Earth.”