Climate change is often seen as a problem for the future, an ever-approaching threat that will have catastrophic impacts decades down the road. But for Generation Z and younger millennials who have come of age in the 21st century, steadily rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions are the only reality they’ve known. And as droughts, floods, heatwaves and powerful storms affect more people around the globe every year, the impact climate change has on their psychological well-being has become a growing topic of concern and study among researchers.
In September, a team of researchers at the University of Bath in the U.K. published a preprint of the biggest scientific study on climate anxiety to date — it surveyed 10,000 people, aged 16 to 25, from 10 different countries on their thoughts and feelings about climate change. Respondents overwhelmingly reported that they were worried to some degree, and more than half ...
