Hidden Link

April 24, 2024

By JENNIFER SMITH

When the subject of climate change comes up in young people’s lives, it’s often accompanied by “climate despair” – the scope of the problem can seem overwhelming, the stakes too high, and individual impact too limited. 

A new Earth Month poll of middle school and high schoolers across the country found that 72 percent of poll respondents say climate change is already impacting their lives – with 30 percent saying it already has a major impact and 42 percent saying a minor impact – and 53 percent believe it will be a major problem over the course of their lives. Asked about their primary emotions when thinking about climate change, the most common answers were sadness, discouragement, helplessness, and uneasiness.

The poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group for the Museum of Science, surveyed 1,501 students between grades 6 and 12 across the country (topline|crosstabs).

Addressing climate change will depend on innovation and political focus and “require radical changes in how we live,” said the vast majority of young people – particularly students of color.

“It can feel hopeless sometimes, when so many people just come out and say that it's fake or blame it on the natural process of the earth and just disregard science,” said Shane Dillon of Springfield, a 20-year-old political science student at Amherst College and a member of the Youth Advisory Council created by Gov. Maura Healey. “I do think it’s the most pressing issue, because we won't really be able to engage in political discourse if the planet becomes uninhabitable. But in this awareness that young people have, I see an energy to correct and rewrite the narrative around climate policy.”

The council, composed of 16- to 21-year-olds, is tasked with advising the administration on a range of policy issues including civic engagement, education, climate, housing, mental health and youth violence. They group has met once so far, Dillon said, and climate is likely to be a major point of focus.

Even at their young age, the largest share of poll respondents (23 percent) said the biggest issue facing the world right now is inflation, cost of living, and the economy. Climate change/ global warming was singled out as the most significant issue by 11 percent of the young people, with another 3 percent answering pollution and environmental degradation.

When adult Massachusetts residents were polled on climate change last year, they also reported feelings of anxiety, sadness, and doom. Climate despair – or climate anxiety – has roared into discussions of mental health in recent years, building on concepts like “eco-anxiety” as a fear of environmental doom or the “ecological grief” felt by indigenous communities watching native lands slip away or transform.

A meta-analysis from University College London found a complicated interaction between climate anxiety and the desire or willingness to have children, noting “climate change concerns were typically associated with less positive attitudes towards reproduction and a desire or intent for fewer children or none at all.”

Though not yet at the long-view life-planning stage, Dillon said fellow students are starting to do that uncomfortable math.

“Because we're more aware of the threat it poses, I think we're more willing to take on that challenge, because we grew up with parents whose goal in life was to start a family, support their family,” Dillon said. “I know a lot of young people graduating and going to start their lives who are afraid to have children because of the world that they would be bringing them into.”

But the subject of climate change is not often discussed, the students said. More than 80 percent of respondents said their friends and the adults in their lives discuss climate change sometimes, rarely, or never. The poll found 35 percent of students think about climate change all the time or often; 37 percent said they think about it sometimes, and 28 percent rarely or never.

There were some points of cautious optimism. About three-quarters of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that their generations will find solutions to address climate change. About the same number are at least somewhat hopeful about human ability to adapt to live with climate change or reduce the pace of it within their lifetimes. 

Students who think about it more are more likely to see solutions and change ahead, the poll found. Those who thought about climate change often were roughly 30 percentage points more likely than those who rarely or never think about it to believe their generation can address climate change and that it will be necessary to live differently as the impacts of climate change grow.

“These results speak to how engaging young people on climate change, empowering them to feel part of solutions, can counter feelings of climate despair,” said Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science, in a statement accompanying the poll. “This is the opportunity and challenge for science centers around the world. We must work every day to meaningfully reach as many people as possible, meeting them where they are with facts and hope.”