Worried about climate change, a ‘supermajority’ of young Americans across the political spectrum want bolder action

CHICAGO — A “supermajority” of young Americans across the political spectrum feel uneasy about human-caused climate change and want bolder action from government and corporations, a new study has found. Experiencing the worsening effects of a rapidly changing climate throughout their youth and into adulthood, this crisis became existential for them.

In the largest survey of its kind, 85 percent of nearly 16,000 respondents ages 16 to 25 from all 50 states said they are concerned about the impact of climate change on people and the planet. More than 60% said they felt the emotional impact of this global crisis – anxiety, helplessness, fear, sadness, anger. The study showed high levels of concern across the board, regardless of whether respondents identified as Democrats, Republicans, independents or others.

“So it really challenges the idea that this is a very partisan issue. It certainly doesn’t seem that way in this younger age group,” said Eric Lewandowski, the study’s lead author and a clinical psychologist. He is also a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, one of six universities involved in the research published Thursday in the scientific journal The Lancet Planetary Health.

A third of respondents said climate change affected their ability to go about their daily lives, including focusing on work or school, eating and sleeping, having fun and enjoying relationships.

“Honestly, the results do not surprise me. I saw it in my friends, I saw it in myself. I saw the desperation,” said Chicago resident Zoharia Drizin, 24, a member of the Generation Z advisory board at the Climate Mental Health Network, a national resource center run by mental health advocates that helps young people, parents and educators to develop strategies to manage the emotional impact of climate change.

But these overwhelming feelings of helplessness translate into a strong desire for action: 77% want the US government and other countries to plan for and prevent the worst consequences of the climate crisis. There is an equally strong consensus about corporations reducing their contribution to pollution and schools providing education and opportunities for discussion.

An “extraordinarily alarming” number of young people admitted to being afraid — “not just for today, but for the future,” said co-author Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist and professor of behavioral sciences at George Washington University School of Medicine. , also one of the schools involved in the study.

But the results, alarming as they are, also offer a way forward.

“It’s very encouraging to be able to put up numbers,” Van Susteren said. “Because it feels like we’re going to better overcome the denial or the scorn or the downplaying that has prevented society and everyone else from taking the necessary action.”

Those overwhelmed by climate concerns can find ways to make these complex feelings tolerable—even actionable—with the help of community advocates and mental health professionals.

While this kind of care is necessary and beneficial, it does not address the root causes of suffering: As long as young people feel that climate change is not being adequately addressed, the researchers say, their suffering will continue to increase.

“Right now, what we have is a systemic problem, which is a public health emergency,” Van Susteren said. “And that requires us to engage everyone, in every sector, to address what is a legitimate danger — and a growing one.”

Generational gaps in political action

Historically, the United States has been one of the largest contributors to global emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. This puts the US government in a unique position to address climate change, a priority for young people across the nation and across the political spectrum.

“Regardless of their political affiliation, nobody wants their house to be destroyed. Nobody wants their future to be ruined,” said Drizin, who works for a company that helps restore land that has been damaged by severe weather. Drizin said her work has familiarized her with how people across the country are affected by climate change.

When it comes to general concern, 96 percent of survey respondents who identified as Democrats said they were concerned. The percentages for other political leanings were not as high, but still represented a majority, including 86 percent of independent and third-party respondents and 74 percent of Republicans.

The most cited factors contributing to this concern included the actions of corporations and industries, unseasonable weather, and the current response of the US government. The study found that the latter made most respondents feel ignored and angry, as if the people in charge had failed and betrayed them and the younger generations.

The researchers say their findings are a wake-up call.

“When young people talk about their personal feelings, you can hear a needle drop,” Van Susteren said. “And the answer is that it can awaken in these powerful adults a sense of their moral and ethical responsibility to do what they can because they are people with the ability to make change, whether it’s judges, lawyers, teachers or policy makers.”

Reflecting an overwhelming desire for strong government action, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they were likely to vote for political candidates who support aggressive climate policy. Although young people who identified as Democrats and independents were more likely to report a desire to take action, most young Republicans did as well.

So, while party identification has long been the strongest predictor of climate change attitudes, with Democrats supporting climate policies more than Republicans, Gen Z and Millennial Republicans are more likely than their elders to vote in in favor of ecological actions.

One explanation, the study found, is that young people who experienced more types of severe weather events were more likely to strongly support action plans, regardless of party affiliation. The two most common types of such events respondents said they experienced included extreme heat or heat waves, and smog or air pollution — both of which even so-called climate havens like the Midwest were vulnerable, including in 2023. smoke from fires in Canada blew into the United States and blanketed the region in a thick fog.

“Last summer … alternating between severe thunderstorms and then air pollution warnings and just going back and forth between them was really shocking to me,” Drizin said. “It kind of gave me this feeling of claustrophobia, like the whole world had caved in, almost like there was nowhere I could be safe.”

The researchers said these findings suggest that as climate change intensifies severe weather and extends its reach, and as more young people of different political persuasions experience its impacts, they will feel more distressed and be more willing to take action

“One of the other real advantages of these numbers is that they really make it hard to deny reality,” Van Susteren said. “When we go and talk to people about the need to take action, waving these numbers in the air is kind of a non-negotiable aspect of the discussion.”

Uncertain futures

Another striking number from the study was that more than three-quarters of respondents said the future scares them, and a majority said their concerns affect their life decisions, such as where to live or whether to have children. More than half of young Americans said they are hesitant to have children because of climate change.

“All these ordinary steps of life seem much more redundant in the face of world-consuming climate terror and climate catastrophe,” Drizin said.

Some worry about the ethics of bringing future generations into a dangerous world, others about the environmental impact of raising them—according to a 2017 analysis, having one less child is associated with a reduction of 58.6 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, comparable to 2.4 metric. tons per year to live without a car.

“I’ve always dreamed of having children,” Drizin said. “And one of the most heartbreaking parts of this crisis is the selfishness that lifelong dream has taken on. … It feels unfair to these children that I wanted so much and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

She doesn’t want to have to tell her kids that they can’t go outside in the summer because the air is too polluted or the streets are flooded. Like Drizin, many young people are grieving and mourning the loss of security and an ideal future they may never achieve.

“I see older people or even people who are in their 50s,” she said, “someone at that age living their life full of love and doing the things they want to do in their family — I pray that I can reach at that age. and be able to experience the same joy.”

Van Susteren hopes the study reaches out to ethical, empathetic people who care about other people’s children and their own — “and get them to do what they can to provide what many of us grew up with, a relative sense of safety “.

“That was our main focus, to reach hearts and minds and overcome the political obstacles that were so divisive,” she said.