Concerned about climate change, a “majority” of young Americans across the political spectrum want bolder action

CHICAGO – A new survey finds that a “majority” of young Americans on all sides of the political spectrum are concerned about human-caused climate change and are demanding bolder action from government and corporations. Having experienced the worsening effects of a rapidly changing climate throughout their youth and adulthood, this crisis became existential for them.

In the largest survey of its kind, 85% of nearly 16,000 respondents ages 16 to 25 from all 50 states expressed concern about the impact of climate change on people and the planet. Over 60% said they felt the emotional effects of this global crisis – anxiety, helplessness, fear, sadness, anger. The survey found high rates of concern across the board, regardless of whether respondents identified as Democrats, Republicans, independents or other.

“It really challenges the idea that this is a very partisan issue. It’s certainly not the case in this younger age group,” said Eric Lewandowski, lead author of the study and a clinical psychologist. He is also a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, one of six universities involved in the study published Thursday in the scientific journal The Lancet Planetary Health.

One third of respondents said climate change had affected their ability to continue their daily lives, including concentrating on work or school, eating and sleeping, having fun and enjoying relationships.

“Honestly, the results don’t surprise me. I’ve seen it in friends, I’ve seen it in myself. I saw the despair,” said Zoharia Drizin, 24, a Chicago resident and a member of the Gen Z advisory board of the Climate Mental Health Network, a national, advocate-led mental well-being resource center that helps youth, parents and teachers develop strategies to manage emotional effects of climate change.

But this widespread sense of helplessness translates into a strong desire to act: 77% want the U.S. government and other countries to plan for and prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. There is a similarly strong consensus that corporations reduce their contribution to pollution and schools provide education and opportunities for discussion.

An “extraordinarily sobering” number of young people admitted they are afraid — “not just today, but in the future,” said co-author Lise Van Susteren, a psychiatrist and professor of behavioral sciences at George Washington University School of Medicine. one of the schools participating in the study.

But the results, while troubling, also point to a way forward.

“It’s very encouraging to be able to put numbers on this,” Van Susteren said. “Because we seem to be better able to deal with the denial, dismissal or downplaying that keeps society and everyone else from taking the necessary action.”

People overwhelmed by climate concerns can find ways to make these complex feelings tolerant – and even actionable – with the help of community advocates and mental health professionals.

While this type of care is necessary and useful, it does not address the root causes of anxiety: researchers say that as long as young people feel that climate change is not being adequately addressed, their distress will increase.

“Right now we are dealing with a systemic problem that poses a threat to public health,” Van Susteren said. “And that requires us to activate everyone, in every sector, to address legitimate danger – and growing danger.”

The generation gap in political action

Historically, the United States has been one of the largest contributors to global emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases created by burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. This puts the U.S. government in a unique position to address climate change, which is a priority for young people across the country and across the political spectrum.

“Regardless of political affiliation, no one wants their home destroyed. Nobody wants their future to be ruined,” said Drizin, who works for a company that helps remediate areas affected by severe weather. Drizin stated that through her work she has learned about the impact of climate change on people across the country.

In terms of general concerns, 96% of survey respondents who identified as Democrats said they were concerned. Percentages representing other political leanings were not as high, but still represented a majority, including 86% of independents and third-party respondents and 74% of Republicans.

The most frequently cited factors contributing to this concern included corporate and industrial activity, unusual weather, and the ongoing U.S. government response. The study found that the latter situation left most respondents feeling ignored and angry, as if those in power had failed and betrayed them and younger generations.

Scientists say their findings are a wake-up call.

“When young people talk about their personal feelings, you can hear a pin drop,” Van Susteren said. “And the answer is that it can awaken in these influential adults a sense of their moral and ethical responsibility to do what they can because they are people capable of making change, whether they are judges, lawyers, teachers or policymakers “.

Reflecting a strong desire for decisive government action, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they would likely vote for political candidates who support aggressive climate policies. Although young people identifying as Democrats and independents were more likely to report wanting to act, most young Republicans did so as well.

So while party identification has long been the strongest predictor of attitudes toward climate change, with Democrats supporting climate-related policies more than Republicans, Gen Z and Millennial Republicans are more likely than their elders to vote for climate-friendly actions.

The study found that one explanation is that young people who experienced more types of severe weather events were more likely to strongly support action plans regardless of party affiliation. The two most common types of such events experienced by respondents were extreme heat or heat waves, and smoke or air pollution – which even so-called climate havens like the Midwest are exposed to, including when smoke from the Canadian wildfires in 2023 it crossed into the United States and covered the region with thick fog.

“Last summer… the alternating between heavy downpours and air pollution warnings was really irritating to me,” Drizin said. “It kind of made me feel claustrophobic, like the whole world was falling apart, like there was no place I could really be safe.”

The researchers said these findings suggest that as climate change intensifies severe weather and expands its reach, and as more young people of all political leanings experience its effects, they will feel more depressed and more willing to take action.

“One of the other really big things about these numbers is that they really make it harder to deny reality,” Van Susteren said. “When we talk to people about the need to take action, waving these numbers in the air is kind of a non-negotiable aspect of the discussion.”

Uncertain future

Another striking result of the survey is that more than three-quarters of respondents said they were terrified of the future, and most said their fears influenced their life decisions, such as where to live or whether to have children. More than half of young Americans said they are hesitant to have children because of climate change.

“All these normal stages of life seem so much more redundant in the face of world-consuming climate terror and climate catastrophe,” Drizin said.

Some worry about the ethics of introducing future generations to a dangerous world, others about the impact of raising them on the environment – according to a 2017 analysis, having one less child is associated with a reduction of 58.6 metric tons of CO2 emissions, which is comparable to 2.4 metric tons. tons per year from living without a car.

“I always dreamed of having children,” Drizin said. “One of the most heartbreaking parts of this crisis is the selfishness this lifelong dream has taken. (…) I feel unfair to these children I wanted so badly, and I don’t know what I will do.”

I don’t want to tell my children that they can’t go outside in the summer because the air is too polluted or the streets are flooded. Like Drizin, many young people grieve and mourn the loss of security and an ideal future they may never receive.

“I see older people and even people over 50,” she said, “someone at that age who lives a life full of love and does what they want in their family. I pray that I live to that age. and be able to experience the same joy.”

Van Susteren hopes the study will reach ethical, empathetic people who care about other people’s children as well as their own, “and that they will do everything in their power to provide many of us with what we grew up with, a relative sense of security.” “.

“That was our main goal: to reach hearts and minds and overcome the political obstacles that were so divisive,” she said.