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YOUNG, ANGRY, AND BETRAYED
Down To Earth
|January 01, 2026
AN OPINION SURVEY OF THE 21ST CENTURY'S FIRST GENERATION REVEALS GRIEF, FRUSTRATION AND RAGE OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
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In 2024, when the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released “Navigating New Horizons: A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing,” it warned of an emerging crisis gripping the world’s young: Eco-anxiety, also described as climate grief.
It is a negative emotional response to the threats posed by environmental degradation and climate change. The UNEP report called climate anxiety among young people “a crisis in plain sight”, warning of “an emotional catastrophe being visited on the next generations.”
Evidence of this unease is widespread. Down To Earth conducted an opinion survey in October-November 2025, among over 300 people aged 16-25 years—the first generation of the 21st century. It shows how entrenched eco-anxiety has become. Nearly 88 per cent of respondents said they felt the climate is changing around them; 67 per cent said these changes were already affecting their daily lives and lifestyles.
This story is from the January 01, 2026 edition of Down To Earth.
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