The Tipping Point: Youth Anxiety in the Age of Climate Change

Ysabella Dawson

Head of Year 8

THE TIPPING POINT:

Youth Anxiety in the Age of Climate Change

Education is central to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. As such, it is necessary to ask: what is being done to recognise the concerns of young people and support climate change education in Australian schools? On Friday 20 September 2019, school students around the globe took part in what was the largest mobilisation yet attempted by the youth climate movement, launched last year by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. The following day, the young activist (Thunberg 2019) gave a rousing address at the United Nations in New York where she implored the political class to recognise the urgency of the ecological situation being felt by younger generations. Thunberg went on to condemn their flippant scepticism, lamenting the perceived triteness and shallow optimism of world leaders. Their cursory analysis, she believes, fails to comprehend the gravity of the climate emergency. Listening to her speak, there is something almost biblical about Thunberg’s language: its commanding clarity, its plain expression, its illustrative force. Unsurprisingly, her speech was highly divisive, and it was not long before our own prime minister, Scott Morrison, entered the discourse in response to Thunberg’s accusations of political apathy. The passion and aspiration of the young must be respected and harnessed, he said. At the same time, ‘we must guard against others who would seek to compound or, worse, facelessly exploit their anxiety for their own agendas’ (Morrison 2019). Morrison went on to stress the importance of giving young people the ‘confidence that they will not only have a wonderful country and pristine environment to live in’, but also ‘an economy to live in as well’. ‘Above all,’ he said, ‘we should let our children be children, let our kids be kids, let our teenagers be teenagers.’ While Morrison’s sentiment seems intuitive – kids should, of course, be afforded the right to enjoy their childhood – such rhetoric is worrisome in that it casts doubt on the capacity of intelligent young people: they are credulous and easily led into anxiety by those who would then exploit such concerns. This perspective defines the role of adults to be one of placation and of assuaging their fears. On this view, school students SUNATA 11

SUNATA 12

should not take an active part in democracy or voice their political anxieties because adults of the great and well-meaning democracies of the world will steer us through this global crisis. Yet anxiety about the future of the natural world is a real and pressing issue facing young people today, and is unlikely to be mitigated by a dismissive response. According to new survey data from youth mental health organisation ReachOut (2019), four in five Australian students report being somewhat or very anxious about climate change, with close to half of those experiencing these emotions on a weekly basis. Moreover, Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams, a clinical psychologist from Oxford, suggests that attempting to nullify such anxieties results in an inverse effect, exacerbating the problem of climate anxiety rather than curbing it: instead, Dr Kennedy Williams notes, ‘the positive thing from our perspective as psychologists is that we soon realised the cure to climate anxiety is the same as the cure for climate change – action. It is about getting out and doing something that helps’ (Taylor & Murray 2020). The manifestation of this conundrum presents itself in the absence of a coherent approach to the issue of climate change in Australian schools. Although young people are reliant on the initiative of teachers and principals to introduce and maintain sustainability programs to learn about such subject matter, in the last decade, state and federal governments have shied away from systematic climate change education (Dyment, Hill & Emery 2015). Considering the risks to Australian children and young people who are facing the profoundly disturbing prospect of climate instability, divergence from the issue seems antithetical to the concerns of educators, for whom anxiety is perhaps the most pertinent issue in the realm of student wellbeing. So, what can schools do to mitigate climate change's impact on the mental health of their students? Dr Elizabeth Haase, psychiatrist and chair of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Climate and Health Committee, believes schools are optimal environments for combating the feelings of helplessness experienced by students concerned for their futures (Watson 2019). Indeed, it would seem that there is power in collective action; helping young people tell stories about what can be, what way of life they can have. Senior Lecturer at Monash University Dr Rachel Forgasz (2019) asserts that changing the institutional environment to increase the sense of control among students is one of the most effective ways to increase their sense of engagement and happiness. Indeed, myriad relevant resources have been developed for such a purpose, including Forgasz’s own project, 7 Ways in 7 Days, CSIRO’s Sustainable Futures, and the Climate Reality Project, each of which encourages participants to adopt the view that, through decisive action, we can control or mitigate certain aspects of climate change. Under this model, it is student-led committees and wholeschool environmental initiatives that may provide the most valuable opportunities for young people to find agency in sustainability projects in their own schools and communities, affording them a sense ownership in their response to the climate crisis. As educators, we must be cognisant that by dismissing young people’s stated fears, we shift focus away from their ultimate goal, and further, conflate legitimate anxiety about climate change with the stereotypical neuroses of adolescence. This will not help them adapt to the changing world they fear. What we can offer are approaches that acknowledge the seriousness of the situation while allowing students to deepen their understanding of the world around them, and advocate for change in meaningful ways. Such approaches necessitate a shift towards enculturating a sustainable mindset within the school context, and understanding the ways in which the voice of youth has driven discussion about social issues and change throughout history, and will continue to do so in years to come.

References

Dyment, JE, Hill, A. and Emery, S 2015, ‘Sustainability as a crosscurricular priority in the Australian curriculum: A Tasmanian investigation’, Environmental Education Research, vol. 21, no. 8, pp.1105-1126. Forgasz, R 2019, 7 ways teachers and schools can support student action on climate change, Monash University, viewed 2 April 2020, https://www. monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/7-ways-teachers-andschools-can-support-student-action-on-climate-change Morrison, S 2019, ‘National Statement to the United Nations General Assembly’, 15 September, viewed 2 April 2020, https://www.pm.gov.au/ media/national-statement-united-nations-general-assembly. Reach Out 2019, New survey by ReachOut and Student Edge reveals number of students anxious about climate change, Reach Out, viewed 30 April 2020, https://about.au.reachout.com/new-survey-by-reachout-and-studentedge-reveals-number-of-students-anxious-about-climate-change/ Taylor, M & Murray, J 2020. ‘“Overwhelming and terrifying”: the rise of climate anxiety’, The Guardian, 10 February, viewed 10 February 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/ feb/10/overwhelming-and-terrifying-impact-of-climate-crisis-onmental-health Thunberg, G 2019, No one is too small to make a difference, Penguin Press, UK. Watson J 2019, Climate Concern Fuels the Rise of Eco-anxiety, Medscape, viewed 2 April, 2020, https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/915145