Something struck me recently while reading the news. Somewhere under a headline about why we should not have children because of climate change and another one about how being a plant lover is destroying the environment, was yet another article concerning itself with the youth mental health crisis. Why is Gen Z so anxious and depressed? Is it social media? The death of religion? Or is it the spectre of impending death and destruction resulting from climate change that has plagued media headlines, elementary class presentations, and the backs of cereal boxes for their entire lives? As a borderline Gen Z/millenial, it took a long time for me to figure this out but now it is glaring.
I have felt hopeless and anxious at the state of the world basically since I learned to read and opened up Maclean’s magazine, the easy reading kept around my house. I don’t think I am alone in that. Usually I can (somewhat) dismiss these feelings with the thought that pendulum swings and everything will be okay. But as I have gotten older and the conversation has moved to ever worsening depictions of climate change, now the climate crisis, and social collapse, it has become harder and harder. The pendulum will not swing on positive feedback loops, or half a billion refugees in any length of time that is helpful to me. It is not like a bad housing market, poor economy, social trends. It’s not even like war, that eventually ends. The picture being painted is a world on fire with nowhere to hide. So, when we talk about climate change and irreversible decline or acceleration of these forces that shape the world, I find myself very anxious. Like many people, I seek solutions when I feel anxious.
For young people that solution searching looked like this:
It started at age 6 with turning off the taps when brushing our teeth, “trash free Tuesdays” at school, and Earth Day where we tried using as little electricity as possible. Then we got a little older and it turned out that those changes were inconsequential. Drive less, walk more, stop using disposable cups and bags. Still fairly doable, although I know I was wracked with guilt when I had to drive, forgot to bring a reusable bag, or worst of all, drove somewhere purely for pleasure. Then in my late teens, it was go vegetarian, or better yet, vegan, live in a city, and stay well informed on all social issues, which might as well be advice to stay anxious and plugged in. Ok, we are doing it and we are unhappy. But hey, with what we know now, planning a life completely different than what we expected or were raised with, the world is sure to be a better place, right? We can raise better kids in a better world? No. Actually, it’s corporate America’s fault. Your actions do not really have consequences but also everything you do from your period products to where you live and what you read is determined by what is best for the planet. Also, don’t have children, it is the number one way to minimize your impact. Minimize, minimize, minimize. Shrink your life and your future and then maybe, if you are lucky, things will get better when you are far too old and cynical to care.
Young people are told, in many different words and ways, every day, that they are going to die or worse in the climate crisis, and every facet of their life is the reason why. Even if they don’t die, some poor souls across the world will die because of them. What we have here is a recipe for guilt, shame, hopelessness, and dread, leading to anxiety, and depression. There is no other area of life where we have decided that thinking about the worst-case scenario all the time is going to bring positive results, yet with climate change that’s the path we have decided on for young people. And it is a dose they receive many times daily, from their toothbrush, deodorant, garbage cans at school, food wrappers, offhand comments from teachers, flyers, tampons, commercials, celebrities, presentations, clothing, bus ads, toilet paper, and now yes, social media. Everything is up for review, and looking forward to the future is worse than the present. The things we have been taught to value in the making of a meaningful life, like a partner, children, and a home, are now wasteful and wrong.
We are replacing children’s present-day lives with fear and guilt and their futures with a hollowed-out semblance of what life should be, then asking why they are so anxious and depressed. It is disgraceful. The intense fear that these articles elicit in people are one of the reasons that it is difficult to take action on climate change. Acknowledging the problem is necessary in order to act on it, and it is so hard to acknowledge climate change as a problem because it is so terrifying. Obviously, we need to address the climate. We need to do it in big ways and in small ways, and we all need to be on board. But we are not doing our children any favours by taking the approach of fear, and burdening them with costly and debilitating mental health issues.
Like the UN report said, it is not all bad. Things are looking better than they were. And we can take action on small and global fronts. Children, and people in general, should be aware of what IS happening as a result of climate change and what they can do NOW to help. And as adults, we should be building a world where what children can do to help is being taken care of for them.
The Avery Spectacle 