College students get emotional about climate change. Some are finding help in class [View all]
Source: NPR
December 22, 2024 5:00 AM ET
More than 50% of youth in the United States are very or extremely worried about climate change, according to a recent survey in the scientific journal The Lancet. The researchers, who surveyed over 15,000 people aged 16–25, also found that more than one in three young people said their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily lives. The study adds to a growing area of research that finds that climate change, which is brought on primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, is making young people distressed.
Yet experts say there are proven ways to help young people cope with those feelings — and college classrooms could play a key role. "When any of us talk about climate with students, we can't just talk about what's happening in the atmosphere and oceans," says Jennifer Atkinson, a professor at the University of Washington. "We have to acknowledge and make space for them to talk openly about what's happening in their own lives and be sensitive and compassionate about that."
Atkinson studies the emotional and psychological toll of climate change. She also teaches a class on climate grief and eco-anxiety, during which students examine the feelings they have around climate change with their peers. The first time the class was offered in 2017, registration filled overnight, Atkinson says.
While teaching, Atkinson says she keeps in mind that many of her students have lived through floods or escaped wildfires — disasters that have increased in intensity as the world warms — before they even start college, yet often have had few places to find support. In the classroom, students come together, frequently finding solace and understanding in one another, she says.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/22/nx-s1-5235404/college-students-struggle-climate-anxiety-find-help-class
Link to PUBLICATION - Climate emotions, thoughts, and plans among US adolescents and young adults: a cross-sectional descriptive survey and analysis by political party identification and self-reported exposure to severe weather events
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