In this short video, several youths discuss their experiences with climate anxiety and give advice to anyone who may feel similarly.
The participants highlight the importance of talking about climate anxiety, having a community, taking action, and avoiding burnout.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Discussing climate anxiety is essential for any students learning about climate change or engaging in activism.
Students are provided with constructive and accessible advice for dealing with climate anxiety.
Additional Prerequisites
Although the content of the video is likely applicable to many people globally, the youth in the video are all based in the United States.
This resource requires access to the Internet.
Differentiation
The video mentions burnout, which the teacher can expand on in class, ideally also discussing ways to avoid burnout.
Educators can help students address climate anxiety by taking their class outdoors, having students write journal entries, and engaging students in climate or environmental action.
Use this video and podcast to learn more about how to cope with climate anxiety.
Scientist Notes
This brief video discusses the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of youth across the country. This video would be a great addition to a classroom discussion about the effects of climate change and how an uncertain future can make the youth of the world feel.
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.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.