In this short video, youth across the United States describe their experiences with climate anxiety.
Students will learn what climate anxiety is, the different ways that people experience it, the importance of knowing that others have the same feelings, and seeing that it is okay to have those feelings.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource can help encourage students and might provide them with a sense of solidarity with others who are experiencing similar feelings.
This video includes practical examples of ways that people cope with climate anxiety.
Additional Prerequisites
Think of how you might provide emotional support for students as you dive into this topic.
While these students all live in the United States, youth across the world may also experience similar feelings.
Differentiation
Give students the chance to respond to their own climate anxiety using multiple opportunities for response, such as this journaling activity or watching this other video about ways to cope with anxiety about climate change.
Provide students with these coloring pages that may reduce climate stress or anxiety and give them the opportunity to discuss their feelings.
Health classes discussing the psychology and biology of emotions might consider using this video to take a deeper dive into emotions, stress, and health.
Scientist Notes
This video resource presents a series of short takes from young people from all across the United States about their feelings of anxiety due to the impending climate crisis. After expressing feelings of hopelessness, the video turns to climate anxiety support groups as a way for young people to have a place to voice their feelings and grow in solidarity. This video presents a good opportunity to allow students to voice their own concerns about climate change. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
National Health Education Standards
Standard 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.
2.12.3 Analyze how peers influence healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
