Anxiety about climate change spreading beyond Western nations: research

Young people from the Philippines to India are worried about the impact of fluctuating global temperatures

by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech | Oct. 19, 2022

An old hotel is submerged by rising water levels in Lake Baringo in Kampi ya Samaki, Kenya on July 20, 2022. Madeleine Diouf Sarr, the chair of an influential negotiating bloc in the upcoming United Nations climate summit in Egypt has called for compensation for poorer countries suffering from climate change to be high up on the agenda. Sarr said that the bloc will push for funds to help developing countries adapt to droughts, floods and other climate-related events as well as urging developed nations to speed up their plans to reduce emissions. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

Story at a glance

A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology looked at attitudes toward climate change in 32 countries.

Study crafters found that young people in 31 out of the 32 countries reported feeling worried about the effects of climate change.

Those feelings of worry were linked to negative mental health but also positive action to combat climate change.

It’s not just the U.S. that is worried about climate change.

A new study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that young people all over the world are concerned over the effects of climate change.

The study surveyed more than 12,000 university students in 32 countries including Brazil, India and Egypt on how climate change made them feel.

Study crafters found that anxiety over climate change was hurting young people’s mental health in 31 of the 32 countries surveyed.

But the study also found that climate-change related anxiety has its positives.

In the study, anxiety around the impacts of climate change was linked to “pro-environmental” behavior — like cycling instead of driving, choosing not to fly, or not purchasing unneeded new clothing — among students in 24 surveyed countries.

Climate anxiety-inspired environmental activism in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom, according to the study.

Study crafters noticed that the strongest link between climate anxiety and activism occurred in Finland and that China showed the weakest connection between climate anxiety and environmental engagement or activism.

While many survey participants expressed concerns over climate change, the depth of concern varied by country.

Spain had the most survey takers who reported feeling “very” or “extremely” worried about climate change, at 77 percent.

Meanwhile, Russian young people appeared to be the least concerned about climate change, with only 9.6 percent of survey responders admitting they felt “very” or “extremely” worried about fluctuating global temperatures.

Out of all the survey respondents, about half, specifically 46.8 percent, said they were “very” or “extremely’ worried about climate change.