As Temps Rise, So Does Youth Distress

The author is a Senior at Bellevue East High School in Bellevue, Nebraska, and a Director for YEPT.

Fifteen-year-old Chase Parson lies awake sometimes, his mind flitting between worries. He’s not thinking about schoolwork or friendship troubles. He’s ruminating on something much more existential: climate change. 

“I think about how scientists predict we only have a matter of years until the damage caused is too great to reverse, how politicians act as if climate change doesn’t even exist, and how random people on the internet create fake news in order to make people believe climate change isn’t real,” Parson said. 

Parson isn’t alone in his distress about climate change. A 2021 study published in the Lancet Planetary Health reported that globally, over 45% of young people experienced stress about climate change that had a negative impact on their day-to-day life. 

“The data shows it really clearly that Gen Z are the most distressed about climate change of any generation,” said Dr. Katharine Staley, a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Science, Sustainability & The Media.

Dr. Staley first began to realize the extent of climate distress in young people when she worked as a therapist at Pennsylvania State University. She noticed, both from national surveys and from the increase in students seeking support, that Gen Z was increasingly depressed and anxious.

“I got very interested in … what is driving the distress of Gen Z?” Staley said. She began interviewing undergraduate and graduate students, as well as young people she encountered in everyday life, about the cause of their distress. The results were stark: “There were several things that people said: the level of gun violence, the polarization of politics, but every single one said climate change.”

Seventeen-year-old Kansas Lohmeier of Elkhorn, Nebraska finds herself thinking about climate change often. She considers its implications on her future decisions, such as where she will live and whether or not she will have children.

“I think about it on a daily basis,” Lohmeier said. “Whenever I think about having a family, a home, a life, I think about the implications I'll face due to climate change.”

At the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha on May 3, 2025, 17-year-old Kansas Lohmeier asked Vice Chair Greg Abel about Berkshire Hathaway’s coal fleet and its impacts on climate change. Lohmeier, who has dealt with distress around climate change, has found that climate advocacy gives her hope on the issue. “Like-minded people, youth advocates, protests, inventions, people working together to mitigate climate change and its impacts [make me less distressed about climate change],” Lohmeier said. Provided photo.

Dr. Katharine Staley noticed in her research that, like Lohmeier, many young people are uncertain about how climate change will impact the future. They don’t know if political leaders will address the issue. They don’t know if they want to bring children into an unforeseeable future. They don’t know how safe the world will be.

“People feel overwhelmed and helpless,” Staley said.

Staley added that many young people are concerned about government inaction on climate change. Despite the United Nations Development Program reporting that 80% of people around the globe want their country to do more on climate change, elected officials have mixed action on the issue. The current US President, for example, withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accords in January 2025 and more recently, his administration eliminated the 2009 EPA’s Endangerment Finding that identifies greenhouse gases as a significant cause of climate change and thus a threat to human health. [For more polling results on public perception of climate change, see the 89 Percent Project,]   

Climate distress can also be worsened by other factors, including exposure to negative news and natural disasters. Staley said extreme weather in a region often increases feelings of fear and distress.

Chase Parson said, “Watching natural disasters destroy towns, communities and lives is heartwrenching. It makes me anxious how close these disasters are to me, my family and my friends.”

Learning to cope

So, with natural disasters at every turn and doomist news on social media, how do young people cope? How do they function in the midst of their overwhelming feelings?

“A positive first step that individuals can do is curate their social media,” Staley said. “Make sure they're looking at sources that… have accurate information.”

In addition to focusing on accuracy, Staley recommends that young people find balanced news. She encourages people to seek out sources that show the true impacts of climate change, but also include stories of hope — stories Parson has found solace in.

“Seeing social media posts and journalists and news anchors talk about how climate change has changed from in the past and is less aggressive definitely soothes any feelings of anxiety or fear,” Parson said. “Knowing that we have made an impact on climate change is reassuring.”

Another tool that young people can use to manage their climate distress is discussion. Talking to friends and family about your feelings, Staley said, is a tried-and-true way to feel less alone.

“Talk. Tell your parents how distressed you are,” Staley said. “And tell your friends… shared distress makes you feel less alone in your distress and less helpless.”

Discussion, Staley adds, is a precursor to action. She encourages young people to talk to their families about how they can make small sustainability changes, or to work with their friends to create an action group.

The effects of open discussion can be seen in Parson’s experience. In March 2025, Chase Parson began talking with his friends about a rally in support of the Nebraska Green Amendment. [Editor’s Note: The author actively participated in said rally and wrote a separate opinion piece about the Green Amendment.]

“A lot of my friends were posting about it [the rally] on their social media. I messaged one of them asking about what it was,” Parson said. “In the end, it was the fact that 3-4 of my friends were going to the Green Amendment rally and the fact that I could actively participate in something that could change the future for the better that led me to attend.”

While climate distress can feel overwhelming– even debilitating– such strong feelings can also be channeled into action. Parson said his feelings about climate change make him want to act as aggressively as possible.

“I don’t want to sit around and continue to feel scared and helpless,” Parson said. “I want to use my anger as a tool to fuel research, projects, and anything that might help lessen climate change.”

At the 2025 Nebraska Green Amendment rally, 15-year-old attendee Chase Parson made a sign in support of clean air and water. Parson frequently uses his distress around climate change to advocate for action. “If you’re feeling down about climate change, know that there are so many projects that are pushing for legislation that will help stop climate change,” Parson said. “I want everyone to know that climate change can be stopped.” Provided photo.

Kansas Lohmeier feels the same way. Watching people work together to mitigate climate change gives her hope, and she wants her career to have a direct impact on climate change.

“I want to become an environmental lawyer in the future to combat issues like this,” Lohmeier said. 

As part of her work at the University of Pennsylvania, Staley hopes to give young people a sense of hope and agency over climate change. She wants to make it clear that everyone can act on climate change.

“People are so distressed that they turn away from climate change, because it's like, ‘oh I just feel helpless. I can't do anything about it’,” Staley said. “We need the message to be, no you can. Everybody can contribute.”

If you experience overwhelming feelings of depression, anxiety or distress, know that there is help. You can call or text 988 to speak to a trained counselor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.