Climate Anxiety Is Affecting Our Kids

"CLIMATE CHANGE SCARES ME because I'm worried the world is going to end," says Maya, 14, a Grade 9 student west of Toronto. Across the country, outside of Calgary, nine-year-old Levi says, "Climate change makes me feel bad because it's making animals go extinct."

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They're not alone in their anxieties. A UNICEF-supported study of 46,000 children found that nine in 10 kids are worried about climate change, and 89 per cent feel that there isn't enough being done about it.

"Climate change feels like a train speeding off the tracks and kids feel helpless with no tools to stop it," says Megan Walter, Education Specialist at Let's Talk Science, a national charitable organization committed to inspiring and empowering children and youth of all ages in Canada to develop the skills they need to participate and thrive in an ever-changing world. These fears are so common that they've been dubbed "eco-anxiety" and "climate distress."

What kids are learning about climate change