The climate crisis is the greatest example of collective human failure to listen to and act on scientific evidence, with potentially catastrophic impacts on global health. The children of today, and future generations, will suffer the most. This paper in The Lancet Planetary Health concludes:
'Distress about climate change is associated with young people perceiving that they have no future, that humanity is doomed, and that governments are failing to respond adequately, and with feelings of betrayal and abandonment by governments and adults. Climate change and government inaction are chronic stressors that could have considerable, long-lasting, and incremental negative implications for the mental health of children and young people. The failure of governments to adequately address climate change and the impact on younger generations potentially constitutes moral injury. Nations must respond to protect the mental health of children and young people by engaging in ethical, collective, policy-based action against climate change.'
CITATION: The Lancet Planetary Health - Articles| volume 5, issue 12, e863-e873, december 01, 2021
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey
Caroline Hickman et al.
Open Access Published:December, 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
