Photo of a teenager lying on a bed staring at the ceiling.

Coping with Climate Anxiety

It can be hard when you’re feeling helpless or overwhelmed by climate change. If you’re worrying about the future or what to do about it then you’re not alone, and we’re here to support you.

Climate anxiety is a way of describing how some people feel about the future in relation to climate change. Lots of young people will feel worried about the future and how things might change, and it can sometimes be hard to know what to do with those feelings.

Even when things are feeling out of control, it can help to remember that even small steps can have an impact against climate change.

Coping with your feelings about climate change and feeling more in control can take time, but we’ve got some tips to help you get started:

Learn more about what’s happening

Climate change includes all of the different things that will happen as temperatures across the planet change. There are lots of causes to climate change, and lots of ways we can help.

Learning about climate change and what you can do about it can help you to feel more able to get involved or talk about your fears.

Sites like BBC Bitesize can help you to understand more about climate change, and it can answer questions you might have about it. You could try asking your teachers or learning about it with an adult you trust.

Share how you’re feeling

It’s natural to feel anxious or stressed about things sometimes, but talking about them can make it easier to cope and see things you can do.

Try talking to someone you trust about your worries about the future. You could try sharing the reasons you’re worried or what you’ve learned about climate change. You could also try asking about things you can do together to help the future.

Reduce your carbon footprint

Your carbon footprint is a way of measuring how much of an impact the things you do has on the environment. When you have a larger carbon footprint, it means the things you do will cause more climate change.

There are lots of ways to reduce your carbon footprint, and it can help to remember that even small changes can help to slow down climate change.

You could try:

turning off lights that don’t need to be on
unplugging electronics that aren’t being used
travelling using public transport or by walking instead of driving
taking shorter showers.

There's lots more you could do. Why not look at the European Union’s page on reducing your carbon footprint.

Get involved

There are lots of ways to get involved in helping to slow down climate change:

talking to others and educating them on climate change
raising awareness on social media of how to reduce your carbon footprint
speak to your school about local groups to help stop climate change or support local reforestation groups
speaking to your parents or carers about taking part in protests or demonstrations.

Taking part in raising awareness of climate change and positive steps people can take can help you take control of the things that are worrying you.

Take care of yourself

If your anxiety is having an impact on your daily life, it’s important to make time to take care of yourself.

It can help to work on building a healthy routine, getting enough sleep and making time to do activities that help relax you or make you feel good. Remember, any time things are getting too much, you can talk to us.