Reading: True/False - 2023 őszi

Climate change is causing distress, anger or even anxiety in teenagers and young people worldwide, a survey of thousands of 16- to 25-year-olds has found. "This study provides arguments for adults that climate change plays an important role in young people's mental health," says Sarah Ray, who studies climate anxiety at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. The survey — the largest of its kind — asked 10,000 young people in 10 countries how they felt about climate change and government responses to it. The results, released in September 2021, found that most respondents were concerned about climate change, with nearly 60% saying they felt 'very worried' or 'extremely worried'. Many associated negative emotions with climate change — the most commonly chosen were 'sad', 'afraid', 'anxious', 'angry' and 'powerless'. Overall, 45% of participants said their feelings about climate change impacted their daily lives. The countries with the highest proportion of respondents who felt 'very worried' or 'extremely worried' by climate change were the Philippines (84%), India (68%) and Brazil (67%), nations that have been hard-hit by climate change. Portugal — where wildfires are becoming increasingly severe — also had a high level of 'very worried' or 'extremely worried' respondents (65%). Among those who said they have talked to others about climate change (81%), nearly half reported being ignored. "There seems to be a dismissal of young people's opinions in society," says study co-author Caroline Hickman, a climate-psychology researcher at the University of Bath, UK. Until now, there has been little research on the psychological impacts of climate change on young people, she adds. When asked about how governments are responding to climate change, 65% of respondents agreed with the statement that governments are failing young people, 64% agreed that they are lying about the impact of actions taken and 60% agreed they were dismissing people's distress. Only 36% agreed that governments are acting according to science. However, young people do feel reassured when governments act. "I think this research will impact more audiences than other arguments about why we should do more on climate," Ray says.