In Conversation With Catherine McKenna: "Climate Anxiety Is Debilitating Our Kids. Here's What Parents Can Do."
She's the Chair, UN Secretary-General's High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments & Canada's former Minister of Environment & Climate Change - And Parent of Three Kids
03.23.2023
Issue: 22
Earlier this week, scientists delivered the final warning on the climate crisis: that we must act now. The kids know this, and they’re getting increasingly scared, stressed, and angry.
The LongRange is focused on helping parents understand the trends shaping and disrupting work, learning, and life readiness. And addressing climate anxiety is an urgent part of this - because kids don't care about their future when they feel increasingly uncertain about whether the planet has one.
A 2021 survey of 10,000 young people ages 16-25 in 10 countries found that 84% were at least moderately worried about climate change, and 68% reported feeling regularly sad and anxious about it. Numerous studies have indicated that younger children and adolescents are also experiencing climate anxiety.
Catherine McKenna is currently Chair of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments. She’s leading experts from across sectors to develop more transparent and robust standards and criteria for assessing non-state actor commitments to reaching net zero. She's a parent of three and Canada's former and first Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
She spoke with me about how parents can better help their kids productively navigate their climate anxiety. These insights are condensed from our conversation.
Take It Seriously:
"Kids are scared, and often, when I meet them, they're angry. And they're right to be. As they see it, we, the grown-ups, need to get our act together to ensure we have a safe planet. The best thing we can do as parents is to take their fear and their anger seriously and show them that they are right to feel worried. They want to see that you also understand the seriousness of the situation."
Mental health experts support this view, stressing that climate anxiety is distressing and upsetting but is also a rational response to a dangerous situation. Parents should show and tell kids what they feel is the correct response.
Read "The Ministry of The Future"
The Ministry for the Future is a climate fiction novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson that was published in 2020. The story follows a subsidiary body established under the Paris Agreement, which aims to advocate for the world's future generations of citizens.
"The power of this book is that it pulls people into understanding the immediacy and urgency of climate change," explains Catherine, who interviewed the author late last year. "For parents who may not think about this topic or these issues in a daily way like their kids are, the descriptions and the characters bring to life that everything is different now."Community and Local Engagement:
"One of the most effective ways to help kids manage their climate anxiety is to find impactful ways to help locally and where they see the change and are empowered to create solutions. It's important to emphasize to kids that no one person will solve this, and all we need to do is do what each of us can. But that said, kids of all ages have an incredible power to start making real, local changes."From letter-writing campaigns to elected officials or businesses, clothing swaps to cut down on fast fashion, student-led local park or beach cleanups, petitions, and fundraisers - all of these are options. "Greta Thurnberg remains an incredible model for the power of one person to lead change. She took her anxiety and shared it in a way that helped tackle the issue."
Get Politically Involved:
"Reaching zero emissions requires real fundamental and systemic changes to the way we do things now, which requires governments. And its strong public demand which increases the likelihood that governments will prioritize climate change action."
"By helping your kids and family become part of that call for more political action, you empower them to call for the changes they want to see and to know how to do it. You can start by talking to them about local candidates, looking at their website to see what they say on climate issues, listening to interviews, and volunteering on campaigns."Finally, she reminds parents to talk to their kids about the solutions that are happening and the progress that is being made. "Even sharing with them how many millions and millions of other people also care about this issue and are working towards solutions can be incredibly uplifting and build their sense of a collective action and optimism."