For many of us adults, the climate crisis is something that we’ve grappled with as it has grown over our lifetimes.

As governments and media outlets have gradually accepted that the planet is suffering due to the havoc the human species is wreaking upon it, we’ve had time to adjust to the horrors that our kind have caused, and the implications of them.

For the younger generation though, this is all they’ve known – dire warnings, increasingly intense extreme weather events and natural disasters as a result – and all the while, they’ve been powerless to the inaction of the wider establishments.

So it should be no surprise that this has had a significant impact on their mental health – and now, a new study from researchers at Simon Fraser University has revealed just how bad things have become.

In their study, which was recently published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the researchers analysed 48 existing studies on the effects of the climate crisis on young people’s mental health, with researcher Maya Gislason explaining the severity of the crisis in a statement:

“We have a generation that doesn’t know if they want to have children or not, especially young women and girls, and we have youth who don’t know what kind of a world to prepare for or what kind of an environment they’ll be growing up into. Eco-emotions are our effort to develop a larger vocabulary around what’s happening and reflect the complexity of experiences and emotions beyond anxiety.”

In their analysis, the team discovered that there were a vast range of emotions felt by younger generations, including grief and mourning, anger and betrayal, powerlessness and helplessness, as well as guilt.

This makes sense, since young people are among the least equipped to actually do something to enact change, whilst they’re also the ones who are going to most suffer as a result. Why wouldn’t they be angry?

There were some positives from the study though, with some young people finding hope in local action, the ability to talk about their feelings, and making positive change through community action groups.

On the flip side, when young people felt hesitant or unable to speak about climate change, things were likely to get worse. And in some regions, young people were already seeing and feeling the effects of climate change on their everyday lives.

Of course, most adults are relatively powerless too, only able to make small change through individual action. So how to confront this with the young people around us? Well, as Gislason continues, this can be part of the conversation:

“Many don’t know what kind of world they’re growing into. We, as adults, are also wrapping our heads around climate change. We may not always know what to say, but we can show up, help them integrate what they’re feeling, and decide what to do next so they’re not facing this alone. When we engage young people’s ‘heads, hands and hearts’ to tackle these issues, we’re utilizing their intellects, their actions and their emotional intelligence to make change.”

In the end, fighting collectively as one is always more powerful than going it alone.

If this post intrigued you, check out this story about what happened to this woman when she stopped doomscrolling for 50 days.