As I read through the various sources and research papers this week, I came across the realization that climate change is far more dangerous than its environmental effects that we all know of, such as increased sea levels and carbon dioxide concentration. Yes, it could be obviously inferred that climate change can inflict some panic, but I was not aware of the potentially severe psychological consequences that it can cause, especially on young people. I have previously known that teenagers and early adults are the demographic that has the most malleable brains than everyone else, meaning that their mental states are the easiest to be shaped and permanently molded. I never connected this phenomenon with the topic of climate anxiety, and when you combine these two matters, I find it so fascinating that negative emotions about climate change can actually undergo a chain reaction and eventually cause children to undergo brain trauma to the point where their daily functionalities are impacted. To build off of that, another point I found even more intriguing was that mental states can be transferred among different generations, so as a young malleable brain absorbs trauma and grows into a permanently traumatized adult brain, offspring will likely inherit their parents’ trauma in their very own brain. After learning about this, it became clear to me that the future environmental effects of climate change are not the only issues to worry about. Another point that I found compelling is the extent to how much young people care about the climate crisis. As of right now, the topic of climate change is not often brought up in educational settings, so the issue is not fully exposed to many children in the place where they spend most of their time: school. However, the tremendous amounts of concern that they appear to show for the climate crisis is certainly encouraging, and it can only mean that they receive most of their information and develop most of their feelings through either parents, news, or personal research.
Speaking of parents, I believe that these reports serve as great guides in terms of notifying parents about the likely current mental state of their children. Just like me, most people should be unaware of the extent to which climate anxiety is impacting the lives of children on a daily basis. When parents analyze the various stress factors that linger in their childrens’ lives, this could become a new crucial item on the list. Another takeaway for parents is that after knowing their childrens’ views on climate change and their feelings about it, they can better construct their climate-related conversations with them, so that they can foster a supportive and emotionally-sound home environment. Last but not least, as many young people are disappointed with the way older generations are taking responsibility for the climate crisis, parents are given a great opportunity to act according to their childrens’ standards, which is a way of gaining trust and respect. Although parents cannot change political policies, they can certainly play a role in pushing for governmental change.