Youth and Climate Change: The Generation Asked to Build a Future It Fears

Minh-Phuong Thi Duong

Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

29-05-2026

© Wix

For generations, childhood has been shaped by a simple promise: work hard today, and tomorrow will be better. Study for a future career. Save for future goals. Dream about the future family, home, and life that await.

But what happens when the future itself becomes a source of anxiety?

A growing body of research suggests that many young people are confronting precisely this dilemma. As climate change intensifies, concerns extend beyond rising temperatures, stronger storms, or biodiversity loss, and is becoming a psychological crisis as well.

Researchers refer to this phenomenon as climate distress, an umbrella term encompassing emotions such as anxiety, fear, sadness, grief, anger, guilt, and helplessness related to climate change (Pihkala, 2022). While these emotions can affect people of all ages, studies consistently show that young people tend to experience climate distress more intensely than older adults (Clayton & Karazsia, 2020; Clayton & Crandon, 2024).

The reasons are not difficult to understand.

Youth are often encouraged to invest in the future while simultaneously undergoing critical stages of psychological and social development, such as identity formation. Yet the future they are asked to prepare for is increasingly portrayed through warnings of climate tipping points, extreme weather events, ecosystem collapse, and political inaction (Strife, 2012; Hickman et al, 2021; Boyd et al., 2024).

The contradiction can feel deeply absurd. Imagine being told to build a future while constantly hearing that the future itself is under threat.

Recent surveys illustrate the scale of the problem. In Canada, most youth aged 16 to 25 reported feeling afraid, sad, or anxious about climate change. Nearly four out of five said climate change had affected their mental health, while more than one-third reported that climate distress interfered with daily functioning (Galway & Field, 2023). Similar findings have emerged internationally, with many young people reporting difficulties concentrating, sleeping, or maintaining optimism about the future (Hickman et al., 2021).

Yet climate distress is not simply a story of fear.

A recent study conducted in Quebec used an innovative research method known as photovoice, which invited young people to document their experiences through photography and reflection (Kim-Shin et al., 2026). Rather than treating youth as passive subjects, the study allowed them to express their own perspectives on climate distress and how they cope with it.

The findings revealed four common triggers: witnessing the causes of climate change, noticing environmental changes, perceiving political inaction, and feeling a lack of control.

Perhaps the most notable finding, however, was how youth responded.

Rather than surrendering to despair, many young people developed ways to navigate uncertainty. Some responded through environmental action, while others sought connection with friends, family, communities, or the natural world. Some intentionally stepped back from overwhelming streams of climate-related information, and many emphasized the importance of cultivating hope.

The climate crisis presents a uniquely challenging predicament: no individual can solve it alone, yet everyone must live with its consequences (Nguyen, 2026). In many ways, the situation resembles pushing a boulder uphill while knowing the summit remains beyond sight. Yet the Quebec study suggests that young people are grappling with more than the question of whether climate change can be solved. They are also confronting a deeper question: how can a meaningful life be built in the face of profound uncertainty?

From this perspective, hope does not necessarily arise from confidence that everything will turn out well. Rather, it emerges through action itself—from participating in community initiatives, advocating for change, caring for local environments, or simply refusing to disengage. These actions may not eliminate uncertainty, but they can restore a sense of agency and meaning within it (Vuong, 2025; Khuc & Nguyen, 2026).

References

Boyd, C. P., et al. (2024). Eco-anxiety among regional Australian youth with mental health problems: A qualitative study. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 18(12), 1022–1031. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.13549 

Clayton, S., & Crandon, T. (2024). Climate distress among young people: An overview. In E. Haase & K. Hudson (Eds.), Climate change and youth mental health: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 3–20). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009252904.002

Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, 101434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434

Galway, L. P., & Field, E. (2023). Climate emotions and anxiety among young people in Canada: A national survey and call to action. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 9, 100204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2023.100204

Hickman, C., et al. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00278-3

Nguyen, M.-H. (2026). Ayn Rand and Kingfisher on zero-carbon bombs and a sustainable future. Visions for Sustainability, 25(13474), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/13474  

Kim-Shin, C., et al. (2026). Daily triggers of climate distress and coping strategies in Quebec youth: A photovoice study. Environmental Psychology Research, 1(2), e70008. https://doi.org/10.1002/epr2.70008

Nguyen, M.-H. (2026). Ayn Rand and Kingfisher on zero-carbon bombs and a sustainable future. Visions for Sustainability, 25(13474), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/13474  

Pihkala, P. (2022). Toward a taxonomy of climate emotions. Frontiers in Climate, 3, 738154. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.738154

Strife, S. J. (2012). Children's environmental concerns: Expressing ecophobia. Journal of Environmental Education, 43(1), 37–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2011.602131

Vuong, Q. H. (2025). Wild Wise Weird. AISDL. https://books.google.com/books?id=C5dDEQAAQBAJ