As the climate crisis worsens, so does the mental health of youth and young adults across the globe. Yet the mental and emotional consequences of our changing climate are frequently overlooked, overshadowed by destructive wildfires, devastating droughts and the increasingly precarious politics of oil and gas.
As early as 2021, research shows that the mental weight of the climate crisis disproportionately impacts youth and young adults, increasing levels of anxiety and depression, worsening quality of sleep and growing feelings of sadness, anger and helplessness.
Particularly in the post-pandemic world, feelings of isolation and helplessness have been overwhelmingly documented in teens, exacerbated by the prospect of a future muddled with pollution, climate disasters and a government unwilling to take appropriate action to mitigate these impacts.
Nowadays, the climate crisis has gotten so bad in California that whenever the Santa Ana winds arrive in Ventura County, we are left trembling in fear about whether or not we’ll face more wildfires like the Palisades, Mountain or Thomas, or if we’ll receive so much rain that we’ll be under a flood warning. Will the roads wash out on our way to school? Will it rain ash on our playgrounds as it did last January?
I’ve lived my whole life in Camarillo, experiencing these supposed “once in a lifetime” fires and storms nearly every year. Now, as a senior at Rancho Campana High School in the Health Sciences Academy, I see the impacts of climate anxiety amongst my peers in my work at our school’s Wellness Center.
But it’s not just Ventura County youth. A 2021 survey of 15,000 people from the United States within the ages of 16-25 found that 43% of youth and young adults said climate change is impacting their mental health and 38% said their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily lives.
When an entire generation’s mental health is at stake like ours is, it interferes with not only our quality of life but also our belief in humanity and our own futures. The more we ignore climate change now, the more future generations will be impacted by declining mental health, alongside worsening air, soil and water quality.
Beyond the impact on our mental health, the climate crisis has clear and distinct consequences for our physical health. Children are disproportionately impacted by pollution and poor air quality because our lungs are still developing and we breathe in more pollution per pound of body weight than adults.
Physical and mental health are directly related: when one suffers, so does the other. Challenging these co-occurring impacts is no small task, but Ventura County youth are leading the way to a healthier future for our minds, bodies and planet.
In Ventura County, youth are working to restore hope and fight for our future with help from a local nonprofit, Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas. Since 2021, CFROG has been working with youth across the county, engaging this generation in the fight against the climate crisis.
Through their Environmental Voices Academy, we are learning to identify environmental and social injustices in our communities, design campaigns that work toward real solutions, build our advocacy skills and become the leaders that the county needs.
In Camarillo, we have been turning our climate anxiety into climate action by urging the City Council to invest in building safer communities, protect public health, hold polluters accountable and be the climate leaders that our generation needs.
At its May 13 meeting, the Camarillo City Council will vote on the resolution in support of climate action that myself and my peers have been advocating for since 2024. Local youth and adult allies who want to support student climate leadership should attend the hearing and urge the council to adopt this resolution.
As the climate crisis threatens the lives we grew up dreaming about, we aren’t sitting idly by – we are taking action. While existing policy and elected officials are failing us, we are building solutions rooted in what we want our futures to look like. We are learning how to stay hopeful, how to effect real change, and how to take back our futures. If not us, then who?
Tiana Jawork is a seniorat Rancho Campana High School in Camarillo, student fellow with Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG) and a lifelong resident of Ventura County.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Camarillo youth take on climate crisis in Ventura County | Your Turn
Reporting by Tiana Jawork, Your Turn / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
