An answer to the problem of climate anxiety

The steady drumbeat of negative news about the environment is taking a toll on children and teens. For many, they hear about plastic pollution, the decimated population of bees, droughts, storms, water scarcity, ever-increasing heat from greenhouse gasses, and they picture their own future as bleak and hopeless.

A big study published in the journal The Lancet in 2021 revealed just how widespread and intense these feelings can be. The researchers surveyed 10,000 people ages 16-25 in ten countries, 1,000 per country: Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, UK, and USA. They found out that 59 percent felt very or extremely worried about climate change and 84 percent felt at least somewhat worried. 75 percent said they think the future is frightening. More than 45 percent said their worry about the environment effects their daily life and functioning. For more than one in three, this uncertainty about the future made them hesitant to have children.

How do we help children and teens deal with these feelings? In another article, I read about a psychologist from Yale University, Sarah Lowe, who looked at how this anxiety turns into depression. Her team found that “climate change anxiety was associated with higher depression symptoms only for those students who were not engaged in collective action. For those who were engaged in collective action climate change anxiety was actually not associated with depression.”

I thought it was remarkable that taking action together with others would have such a marked positive effect on young people. They would still feel the anxiety about the climate but somehow by engaging in efforts to combat the problem they did not slip into depression.

This finding made me see God’s initial calling to humans in a new light. God no sooner creates humans than He gives them something to do in relation to creation. We are told to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). When we see Adam putting this directive into practice we find him “taking care of” the garden (2:15). We were never made to sit around and simply observe the creation in front of us. From the very beginning of our being, we were designed to take action, to serve the creatures, plants and people around us. We were designed to be like God in this, to take initiative on behalf of others.

It’s fascinating to see research that shows how this kind of activity brings health to people. As far as I can see in the Bible, God never told us to stop caring for creation. As we face a crisis in our planet, it seems even more crucial to teach young people about God’s calling and to provide a space where they can join together and do something about the challenges we face. Judging from the youth group I taught on Sunday, they will have lots and lots of good ideas.