Teens helping each other ease climate change anxiety
BOSTON - News of our constantly transforming planet is giving young people anxiety about the future. But teenagers we spoke to are finding there is strength in numbers.
Twice a week a group of teenagers meet at Mass Audubon's 67-acre Boston Nature Center in Mattapan to embrace nature, discuss climate change and figure out what they can do to help.
"My biggest fear, I think, is not necessarily that it's going to happen," said student Will Harris. "But more just we aren't going to try and at least stop it from happening."
Extreme drought, intense rain, tornadoes and wildfires are a consistent part of the forecast. And uncertainty over the planet's future is creating a generation filled with anxiety about what lies ahead.
"Sea levels rising," said student Tikal Hollister-Carlson. "People won't have places to live. It just affects so much."
According to a recent Hickman Global Youth Survey, many teenagers around the world have a very grim outlook on the future.
- More than three-quarters of those surveyed say the future is frightening.
- More than 80% believe people have failed to take care of the planet.
- Nearly 40% were hesitant to have children.
Psychologists say the road to adulthood is now filled with potholes. Kids are forced to tackle problems their parents never had to face.
"In adolescence and thinking about what do I want to be when I grow up?" Suffolk University professor Sarah Schwartz told WBZ-TV. "What do I want my life to look like? A lot of adolescents are thinking, I don't know if there will be a future."
Schwartz says the situation gets even worse when teenagers feel helpless to do anything about it.
"This combination of not just saying yes, climate change is real and this is scary, but feeling like and no one is doing anything about it. I think that that leads to much more of a sense of fear and powerlessness," she said.
Yet, teenagers we spoke to are ready to take action.
"I think just starting the conversation, 'Oh, this is going on, what are we going to do?' is a way to help cope," said student Gabby Rodriguez. "Because I'm not the only one going through these fears and learning from them."
"This place is thriving. This place is surviving in the middle of all of this craziness," said Harris. "So who knows, maybe there is hope for the rest of the world there too."
Schwartz said having the teens meeting together is exactly what they need - activism and validation of their fears by parents can go a long way to ease climate anxiety.