Medical experts are sounding the alarm about the rise of "climate anxiety" in children and teens around the globe. 

"We see that a lot of young people are saying, 'I think my life will be worse than my parents' lives,'" a psychology professor at Suffolk University in Boston told CBS News.

Data from a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in December 2021 found that young people are extremely concerned about the state of the climate crisis.

"Climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses are widespread in children and young people in countries across the world and impact their daily functioning," the report stated. "A perceived failure by governments to respond to the climate crisis is associated with increased distress."

A large number of young people in the study reported that they feel a sense of hopelessness and worry that the human race will go extinct. Most also agreed that governments are not doing enough to address the issue and even noted feeling betrayed by them.

"Children are now turning to legal action based on government failure to protect ecosystems, young citizens and their futures. Failure of governments to protect them from harm from climate change could be argued to be a failure of human rights and a failure of ethical responsibility to care, leading to moral injury," according to the journal.

The non-profit Child Mind Institute suggests that parents allow children to express their concerns and fear of climate change but to also encourage them to be brave. The organization also advises that parents helping them manage their feelings and adopting ways to change their own habits can help mitigate the worry.

Share:
More In Science
30 KPH Max: Paris Shrinks Speed Limit to Protect Climate
The speed limit for most of Paris is now 30 kilometers per hour (less than 19 miles per hour). The new rule takes effect Monday almost everywhere in the city except for a few wide avenues like the Champs-Elysees and the bypass circling the capital.
Hurricane Ida Traps Louisianans, Shatters the Power Grid
A fearsome Hurricane Ida has left scores of coastal Louisiana residents trapped by floodwaters and pleading to be rescued, while making a shambles of the electrical grid across a wide swath of the state in the sweltering, late-summer heat.
Ida Aims to Hit New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina Anniversary
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell has ordered people outside the city’s levee protection system to evacuate. Forecasters say Ida made landfall in Cuba as a hurricane and could grow to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm with top winds of 140 mph when it nears the U.S. coast.
Fukushima Nuclear Water to Be Released Via Undersea Tunnel
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it plans to build an undersea tunnel so that massive amounts of treated but still radioactive water can be released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the plant to avoid interference with local fishing.
Load More