Linscott, Georgie_Senior Thesis 2026

The Endangered Bug in Your Ear: Investigating Remedies & Responses to Climate Anxiety in Young Populations Georgie Linscott Senior Thesis | 2026

The Endangered Bug in Your Ear: Investigating Remedies & Responses to Climate Anxiety in Young Populations Géorgie Linscott With the guidance of Dr. Kelsee Bratley, PhD, Ms. Olivia Waring, and Dr. Elizabeth Karnaukh.

Abstract As the climate crisis worsens, recent years have witnessed a surge in awareness about climate change-induced stress, anxiety, guilt around inaction, and distress among young populations in developed countries. Studies have uncovered a drought in climate-aware therapy conversations, prepared therapists, and a deep stigma around having climate-related conversations that greatly raised levels of Climate Anxiety. With the goal of finding the most effective and practical method of mitigating Climate Anxiety and guilt, research began by analyzing several clinical methods that yielded promising but untested or unscalable results, while the Good Grief Networks’s cornerstone 10-step Zoom program and book proved better yet lie behind a paywall.

Attending a small-scale free Zoom conversation hosted by the Climate Psychology Alliance showed promising results, while utilizing a small private high school - BU Academy - for two case studies proved insightful in shaping the hypothesis that discussing and connecting over climate effectively and practically mitigates Climate Anxiety. Results of a standard 20-question quantifying scale to students, followed by an intimate group discussion and following survey, were relatively consistent with the alternative hypothesis with a greater emphasis on motivation to make change in the climate crisis.

Overall, while the Climate Anxiety crisis remains on the rise and may still be absent from relatively high-income

communities, discussing climate change has the potential to inspire a new generation of climate-aware activists and innovators and perhaps even successfully mitigate the effects of Climate Anxiety.

1) Introduction ​ What do you feel when you find yourself taking your coat off on a warm November day or see a house falling to the sea on the news? What about when you smell the BBQ-like smoke from Canadian or Californian fires drifting into your city? Many young people in America and the world over feel a mixture of worry, distress, fear and betrayal often known as Climate Anxiety.

UNICEF Parenting, which offers online resources and articles to “to help parents and caregivers give their children the best start in life,” describes Climate Anxiety (also known as Climate Change Anxiety or Eco-anxiety) as “heightened emotional, mental or physical distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate.”

To address the growing problem of Climate Anxiety, holistic group solutions (primarily the Good Grief Network and the Climate Psychology Alliance) and potential psychological approaches alike have emerged. This article seeks to weigh these solutions while investigating the prevalence of Climate Anxiety within the young community of Boston University Academy (BUA) as a selective case study. Analyzing these approaches and applying them at BUA reveals the efficacy of listening to young people and allowing them to discuss climate topics in encouraging hope and renewed optimism during this climate crisis.

2) Background: Climate Anxiety and our Various Responses to It A bombshell 2021 paper in The Lancet that surveyed 10,000 16-25 year olds equally distributed across 10 countries exposed a massive undercurrent of youth distress in regards to the climate. More than 45% of respondents reported that their feelings towards climate change impacted their daily functioning, while

over 75% reported believing that the “future is frightening.” Nearly 60% reported being very or extremely worried about climate change, while 83% were “at least moderately worried” (Hickman et al, 2021). A recent 2025 study in PNAS, surveying 3,000 16-24 year olds, found that 20% were afraid to have children, with the number rising to 30% among those who had personally experienced a severe weather event.

As the generations most likely to bear the brunt of the climate crisis, Climate Anxiety disproportionately targets younger populations. The National Wildlife Federation explains that “young people are especially prone to complex and sometimes overwhelming feelings about the changing climate due to its direct connection to their present and future well-being” (Kallagrim and Hired, NWF Blog). The older populations that continue to worsen the climate crisis won’t be around to see the worst of its effects, leaving their children to grow up in a world of fear. In personal conversations, adults often reinforce our world’s dominant paradigm that encourages young people to ‘bottle up’ and suppress their emotions and feelings, worsening inner distress of all forms.

Young people feel an additional responsibility to solve the climate crisis, further burdening their mental health. As Allison, a teenage climate activist interviewed by the New York Times states, “The responsibility to fight for our planet is not one that lies upon the shoulders of one group of people” (The Learning Network, NYT). Dr. Clayton, who co-authored the Climate Anxiety scale [used below] and helped found the field of climate psychology by publishing foundational papers as early as 2011 (Doherty and Clayton, 2011), urges young people not to feel responsible for solving the crisis.

3) Case Study 1: A Private High School To gauge the prevalence of Climate Anxiety in a high school population, I turned to the scale developed by B. Karazsia and leading climate psychologist Dr. Susan Clayton in their 2020

paper, Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. The 22-question scale seeks to quantify feelings of climate distress both on an individual and interpersonal level. I sent out the survey to the students and faculty of Boston University Academy in early December of 2025 - one of the warmest years on record.

The survey measured 61 students (aged 13-18) and 2 adults or faculty members out of a student population of approximately 250.

Methods Respondents rated how the following questions applied to them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating ‘Never,’ 3 indicating ‘Sometimes,’ and 5 indicating ‘Almost Always.’ Questions 1-13 represent the Climate Anxiety scale itself; questions 1-8 quantify Cognitive–Emotional Impairment and questions 8-13 represent Functional Impairment. Items 14-16 measure personal exposure to climate change, and 17-22 seek to quantify “behavioral engagement” (Clayton and Karazsia, 2020). The questions are listed in the appendix.

Results & Discussion Table 1 presents the results of the survey analyzed in accordance with Clayton and Karazsia’s methodology. The Mean (M) column represents the average participant response for each subscale on a 1–5 Likert scale, where higher values indicate greater endorsement of the construct. Standard Deviation (SD) reflects the variability of responses around the mean, indicating how varied or dispersed respondents’ answers were. The remaining columns report Pearson correlation coefficients (r), which range from –1 to +1 and measure the strength and direction of the linear relationship between each pair of subscales. Values closer to +1 indicate a strong positive association, values near 0 indicate little to no linear relationship, and values closer to –1 indicate a strong negative association. In research, coefficients above 0.50 are generally considered strong. The right four columns, labelled 1-4,

represent the same categories as the bottom four rows. The table is read by comparing the correlation between two different categories; for example, the correlation between categories 2 and 3 is 0.19, indicating a weak correlation.

Table 1: Subscale

Mean

SD

1

2

3

4

1.Cogniti ve– Emotional Impairme nt

1.58

0.63

—

0.71

0.32

0.26

2.

Functiona l Impairme nt

1.36

0.5

0.71

—

0.19

0.26

3.

Experienc e of Climate Change

2.77

1.16

0.32

0.19

—

0.31

4.

Behaviora l Engagem ent

3.58

0.76

0.26

0.26

0.31

—

​ Mean climate change anxiety at BU Academy is low. Both cognitive–emotional impairment (M = 1.58) and functional impairment (M = 1.36) fall well below ‘Sometimes’ on the scale.

This indicates that climate change rarely affects students’ well-being and daily functioning. The strong positive correlation (r = 0.71) indicates a substantial linear relationship between cognitive–emotional impairment and functional impairment, with

approximately 50% of the variance in one measure shared with the other. This supports Clayton and Karazsia’s finding that these subscales jointly form the core construct of climate anxiety. ​ Interestingly, personal experiences with climate change were notably more common than anxiety associated with them.

This indicates a weak-to-moderate correlation between Climate Anxiety and Experience of Climate Change, as the correlation data show. However, more BU Academy students reported knowing someone affected by climate change than experiencing climate change themselves. Rates of Climate Anxiety are higher among those directly impacted by climate change, as discussed by Vercammena et al.

BU Academy students show a consistent desire to care for the environment and act sustainably through a 3.58 mean score on the Behavioral Engagement section, which likely connects with to 52% of respondents reporting above a 3 on their desire to behave more sustainably and 71.5% of respondents reporting a 3 or above on feeling guilty about wasting energy. However, the mean answer on Question 22 (‘I believe I can do something to help address the problem of climate change’) was a 2.95, indicating an awareness that individuals do not contribute greatly to the climate crisis.

Further investigation should weigh the published demographic factors of the BU Academy population against the demographics most impacted by Climate Anxiety. However, lower levels of Climate Anxiety are unsurprising due to students’ relatively high socioeconomic status and its location in Massachusetts, a state relatively spared from the effects of climate change. Anecdotal experience at BU Academy suggests a culture that welcomes talking about troublesome political and climate topics. The monthly Conversations at BUA series is dedicated to discussing difficult topics, potentially contributing to BU Academy

students feeling listened to, empowered, and valued.1 Additionally, the school mandates 8 hours of Community Service a year for all of its students and has run a Service Fellows program for the past two semesters, possibly influencing the BU Academy student’s high mean on the Behavioral Engagement section.

4) Talking about Climate Change Helps, But Adults Refuse Studies and personal experiences consistently attest to a silent stigma around discussing climate change or Climate Anxiety in American homes and families. Adults often reinforce our world’s dominant paradigm that encourages humans to ‘bottle up’ and suppress their emotions and feelings, which only worsens inner distress of all forms.

A 2024 study of 16,000 young Americans in The Lancet measured a deep desire for discussion and understanding around climate change, with over 60% of respondents reported they “tried to talk to others about climate change.” Of those, 70% of respondents wanted to discuss the dangers around climate change and how it made them feel, but 57.6% of those who tried to talk about climate change reported that they “felt ignored or dismissed by other people” (Lewandowski et al, 2024). A similar 2023 Australian study, ‘Listen to me!’: Young people’s experiences of talking about emotional impacts of climate change, surveyed 1,943 teens from 15-19 years of age. The study uncovered a direct link between how distressed or optimistic young people felt and reported that “[t]he most important predictor of young people talking about their climate feelings was whether they felt listened to. Respondents were more likely to feel comfortable having climate conversations with younger or same-aged people and associated these conversations with hope. In contrast, climate conversations with older people were most often associated with 1

A small meeting of Conversations was used to foster a conversation around and gauge the impact discussing the topic had on students and teachers - this is discussed later in this thesis.

betrayal, uncertainty, and worry” (Jones and Lucas, 2023). Results like these indicate that the ‘solution’ to Climate Anxiety may lie not in the severity of the climate crisis, but our communication and cultural response around it.

Climate activist, co-founder of the Good Grief Network2, and author Aimee Lewis Reau argues for the destigmatization of climate discussions, touching on her attempts earlier in life to connect with her family. Reau describes that having “the reality I saw batted away by my family made me question my own reality” (Schmidt 41). The teens in the Australian study echo Reau’s reaction, with one respondent asking for adults to “listen to what I have to say, instead of dismissing me because ‘I’m a kid’” (Jones and Lucas, 2023) Young people need to talk about climate change to reduce Climate Anxiety and drive action in the world.

Concerningly, talk therapy is also proving insufficient in dealing with the rising wave of Climate Anxiety as few conversations are being had regarding the climate. A 2024 study in the journal Nature surveyed “32,542 therapy sessions provided by 849 therapists to 7,916 clients” in the United States over a 2.5 year period, and only 0.3% of all therapy sessions touched on climate or weather-related topics. Therapy sessions suffer from a shortage of qualified climate therapists. Holistic approaches discussed below set an intention of discussing the climate, while therapy sessions may not have climate anxiety as a topic of conversation and thus avoid the issue.

Opening up conversations around climate change must be part of mitigating and coping with Climate Anxiety and part of the solution to the climate crisis as a whole.

3) Mitigating Climate Anxiety ​ In response to the worsening Climate Anxiety crisis and the soothing effects of safely discussing climate change, several 2

The GGN is introduced, discussed, and analyzed in Section 3b below

clinical and talk-based approaches have been developed by therapists and changemakers alike. Below we examine and contrast three of these approaches.

3a) Clinical Psychological Approaches ​ Several psychological approaches are being researched in light of the limited tools available to treat or cope with Climate Anxiety. Two of these approaches are new forms of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and have been tested in various pilot studies. ​ Psychological Capital is a subset of Positive Psychology, which focuses on mental wellness rather than mental illness and holds promise for combating Climate Anxiety as well as climate change denial and the crisis itself. Building Positive Psychological Capital means building the mental foundations of positive belief to foster well-being. These foundations are often known as HERO: Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism. The following list is a compilation of PsyCap principles using sources from the American Psychological Association and Nimo et al. 's 2025 study Coping strategies for climate change anxiety: a perspective on building resilience through psychological capital.

Hope: The ability to see a path forward to a better future and believe that positive outcomes are possible. Fostered by imagining a better future and a plan to get there.

(Self) Efficacy: The sense of confidence in the ability of one or one’s community to achieve. In other words, the belief that one can take effective personal action. Fostered by personal involvement, community action and monitoring systems.

Resilience: One’s ability to return to ‘baseline’ after a stressful event. Fostered by social connections, a sense of community, personal support systems, and group problem-solving.

Optimism: Believing that positive outcomes are due to one’s abilities, while challenges are temporary and solvable. In

other words, believing the future is largely positive and that its challenges (like climate change) are manageable issues. Fostered by3 understanding the potential for and past examples of positive change.

These tenets hold the potential to reinstate hope and effectively combat the hopelessness associated with Climate Anxiety. As one study puts it, building Psychological Capital through “interventions such as mindfulness, cognitive reframing and encouraging environmental engagement could assist individuals in navigating the emotional toll of climate change” (Nkoa et al, 2025).

However, these clinical approaches - while promising remain largely theoretical and unstudied. There are far less journal articles and research investigating these two topics than there is demand for the treatments they pursue. Psychological Capital’s application to Climate Anxiety remains largely theoretical.

Psychological Capital’s only significant climate-related implementation has been on farms in arid regions and has been successful, but this niche approach is hard to apply to young populations at large. Harvard Medicine Magazine of Harvard Medical School describes how “counselors who work in this area [PsyCap] travel in relatively uncharted territory, especially when it comes to managing anticipatory anxiety over future climate effects,” highlighting the lack of direction for psychologically managing Climate Anxiety.

The Climate Psychology Alliance of North America and Climate Psychology Alliance maintains the nation’s leading 3

Climate activism can also help foster optimism. Dr. Susan Clayton encourages some level of activism, stating that climate-related: “[anger] can be a good motivator for people to get involved, and get engaged, and take action, because then people don’t feel like passive victims” (Valero, APA). Though young people’s feelings of guilt contributes to their Climate Anxiety, encouraging activism can be incredibly beneficial for reducing feelings of Climate Anxiety.

database of “Climate Aware therapists.” It has only a few hundred therapists registered, not nearly enough to deal with the volume and breadth of the Climate Anxiety crisis. More ‘holistic’ and less formal approaches have sprung up in the last decade, spearheaded by the Climate Cafe movement and the Good Grief Network.

Going beyond group therapy, these efforts seek to change our mindset and identity with regards to climate, taking a novel approach toward the feelings climate change provokes and a stance against the climate isolation many feel.

3b) Holistic Psychological Approaches: The Good Grief Network The Good Grief Network, or GGN, is a primarily virtual organization dedicated to helping people deal with Climate Anxiety and working toward a healthier world through its viral 10-step program. The efforts of the GGN and similar organisations have a larger goal of opening up conversations around the climate, deconstructing climate stigmas, honoring the emotions and anxiety of climate change, and building resilient communities. These holistic approaches carve out spaces for young people to feel their emotions and unlock their grief and gratefulness, whether through mindfulness exercises or online safe spaces.

In their 2023 book How to Live in a Chaotic Climate: 10 Steps to Reconnect with Ourselves, our Communities, and our Planet, the founders of the Good Grief Network focus on slowing down and healing emotionally in response to the climate crisis, extending and sharing feelings in communities as a form of rebellion to the exploitative ‘dominant culture.’ The GGN invites young people to grieve and celebrate the world around us, while making clear that the responsibility for the climate crisis lies with the greater culture, systems, and corporations - not the individual, as efforts like BP’s personal climate calculator imply. The GGN has been lauded for the efficacy of its viral 10-step program in

reducing Climate Anxiety, and is frequently mentioned in articles investigating the Climate Anxiety crisis or group therapy solutions.

Seeking to understand the efficacy of organizations like the GGN to create safe spaces for young people to feel heard, this section will examine the Good Grief Network’s Viral 10-step program as seen through their 2023 book How to Live in a Chaotic Climate and a December 2025 virtual meeting4 of the ‘Support Support Space for Young Adults’ hosted regularly by the Climate Psychology Alliance.

From TIME to the New York Times, most newspaper articles on Climate Anxiety point to the Good Grief Network as a peer-support organisation leading the charge against Climate Anxiety with its AA-inspired 10-step model for climate grief. To research the program, I read the organizations’ 2023 book, which included countless meditations & exercises, several testimonials, and two poems within its 278 pages. Rather than being a straightforward ‘coping’ guide, the 10-step program asks followers to allow themselves to feel, grieve, while attempting to heal themselves from within. Instead of advocating for top-down change and solving only the current climate ‘predicament,’ the book aims to create healed community members with the capacity to replace our destructive systems with vibrant “life-focused” paradigms in harmony with the needs of our body and planet.

Importantly, the GGN repeatedly shifts the blame for the climate crisis away from individuals. In Step 8, co-author Aimee Lewis Reau argues that our “power-over [exploitative] systems… blame us as individuals for toxic systems,” rejecting the "cultural messaging” that “tells us that it is up to each of us to measure our own carbon footprints, conserve water, use canvas shopping bags, decline plastic straws, and move towards a zero-waste lifestyle and that, until we have reached perfection, we have no right to critique systems.” She concludes, “That notion is convenient for 4

Discussed in Section 3b below

corporations that are gobbling up our planet [...] and our souls” (Schmit, 207). Respondents in the BUA case studies indicated similar guilt over their harmful habits and a desire to act more sustainably. While it can be important to do so, the GGN consistently reminds readers that the crisis is not their fault, but readers are still allowed to "grieve the harm we have caused” (Schmit, 205). A full list and summary of the steps is below.

1. Accept the Severity of the Predicament “Yes, the predicament we face in the world today is really as bad as we feel it is,” reassures Step 1, reminding distressed and culturally gaslit readers (like the ones in the 2024 Lancet study) that no, they are not crazy or alone in recognizing the dire state of the planet. The book encourages readers to empathize with their discomfort, reminding them that “there are no negative feelings, only uncomfortable ones” that our culture demonises. This step asks readers to sit with, feel, and express their feelings to provide an outlet for their anxiety (57).

2. Be with Uncertainty This step invites the reader to give up their illusion of control, both other their effect on the climate crisis and climate change in general. By embracing the chaos and imperfection of natural life, readers can go beyond their fear of change and visualise a new life-centered world. The book reminds readers that “[o]nce we let go of the idea that we, individually, are responsible for saving the world, we are free to live here, right now” and “tend to our internal worlds, knowing that it directly changes how we view and respond to the external world” (91). By healing internal trauma and living with change, readers contribute to the healing of mankind and nature.

3. Honor My Mortality and the Mortality of All

Hinting toward the influence of Death Cafes - where people can discuss mortality, similar to climate support spaces - on the climate movement, this step asks the reader to see death as a natural process necessary for the creation of new life and an opener of doors. Staving off death is an artificial construction of a culture that tramples over life and its needs in a “deadly search for immortality” and its “illusion” of “infinite growth” (100, 96). Growing off this philosophy, Step 3 encourages “both/and thinking” in any situation as an alternative to our devising systems of binary thinking to “paint a richer picture of the world we live in” and “make us more compassionate” (115).

4. Do Inner Work Step 4 best exemplifies the GGN’s commitment to dismantling the structures that created the climate crisis by healing the reader. “To focus on policy and infrastructure without inner work will have us repeating the same issues that got us into this mess,” advises the book, urging readers to reconsider their society (119). The book argues that “how we treat ourselves manifests in how we treat others,” and that we must “rewild ourselves” to split from our cultural conditioning and reconnect with nature (127-128).

The book hopes these internal transformations will cross into radical community building and a paradigm friendly to life and the environment.

5. Develop Awareness of Biases and Perception Here, the GGN asks readers to adopt critical thinking and weed out their assumptions from the dominant culture. The authors describe how the brain often reverts to familiar pathways when in a state of crisis or panic, keeping us trapped in responses continued by a life-rejecting culture.

The authors remind readers that “simply knowing the

thinking patterns that we tend to fall into when we are under pressure, stressed, or multitasking can help us identify them,” which is crucial in disarming the brain’s panic response when triggered by the climate crisis (146).

The step gives readers “permission to be wrong” in regards to their past beliefs, freeing them from guilt over not recognizing the dire state of the world sooner or having listened to cultural messaging (138, 140-141).

6. Practice Gratitude, Seek Beauty, and Create Connections This step allows readers to appreciate what Earth has instead of focusing on what has been taken away. The book gives readers permission to see the immense beauty in nature and in each other that we often take for granted in an effort to uproot the doomer mindset. “Taking in beauty, creating connections, and putting the grit back in gratitude are [...] gateways into meaning making and joy[,] quintessential in keeping us tethered in an unraveling world” (168). The world is not just a source of carbon and stress, but of joy and collective healing.

7. Take Breaks and Rest “We cannot pour from an empty cup,” advises Step 9 (240).

Here, the GGN discusses the culture of overwork present in activist and corporate spaces that dooms us to a cycle of exhaustion and burnout encouraged by our toxic systems.

Step 9 asks readers to slow down and reclaim the “Right to Rest” (185). After all, we are animals, the book argues; caring for ourselves is caring for our planet and its ecosystems.

8. Grieve the Harm I Have Caused Beyond shifting the blame off the individual, this section asks us to both interrogate our privilege and move away

from the judgement-heavy practices of Cancel Culture, allowing us to forgive and feel compassion (226), while allowing the reader to grieving their place in a destructive world as needed. This step encourages readers to “combat Othering” and heal collectively from our trauma as colonized and exploited souls.

9. Show Up This step is GGN's guide to building a radical community.

The book urges readers to work on their relationships (setting boundaries), and showing their vulnerabilities so others feel less alone in an atomized world. As one testimonial in the chapter explains, “I have been holding an entangled ball of emotions related to the climate crisis in my chest. I was not even aware of it. I was in pain without being able to look at it. When I joined GGN, I realized that I was not alone in my suffering over the state of the world.

I came to understand how much the modern culture represses this kind of conversation” (235). Step 9 is another example of how talking works, and naturally opening up to others is the key to building community.

10. Reinvest in Meaningful Efforts Step 10 is the GGN’s final call to action, encouraging readers to follow their instinctual passions while not overextending themselves and freeing people from a solution mindset. This step instructs readers that the climate process is “not a destination we reach but a process of cultivating relationships, serious healing, and significant repair and then witnessing what unfolds” (259) This is how the GGN aims to gradually overturn the paradigm that got us into this crisis - though radical collective healing, action, and feeling.

The 10-step program invites readers to discuss climate change and listen to their bodies and the GGN itself functions as a space for these connections and mindset shifts to occur. The Good Grief Network also offers their 10-step program as a 10-week online course with a minimum price of $150, along with regular free Zoom support & guidance meetings. Though the GGN is likely beneficial for mitigating climate change, their program is not freely accessible, either hidden behind a step paywall or the cost of their book. An ideal method of dealing with Climate Anxiety should be accessible to young students, kids, and lower-income populations who are unable to afford the GGN’s advice.

3c) The Climate Psychology Alliance: Experience at a Zoom Support Space The CPA regularly hosts support spaces to allow young adults to speak about difficult climate issues, among other online events. Attending an event in December 2025 with the intention of understanding the CPA’s approach, the makeup and motivations of the attendees revealed the positive impact of the space.

The event was hosted by two older Scottish women, who fostered a welcoming environment free of expectations through their calm presence. This was a space of invitation; nothing was asked of the participants or forced upon them, yet everyone spoke.

The women listened attentively to the participants and echoed back what they said, with little agenda besides hearing out and supporting the participants, who started to talk amongst themselves about their own experiences with climate change and Climate Anxiety. Both hosts were disillusioned therapists, reflecting the inadequacies of traditional psychological methods in treating Climate Anxiety. One described herself as a “psychotherapist critical of psychotherapy,” moving away from addressing illness and taking a holistic wellness approach to mental health.

The meeting opened with calming music playing, inviting an atmosphere of relaxation. After welcoming all the attendees, the

hosts invited them to feel connected to the Earth and world around us by inviting the attendees to close their eyes and “feel the gravity supporting them,” adding on that “gravity is very stable.” Though simple, this exercise emphasized the parts of the Earth that will persist throughout the climate catastrophe and gave the attendees a permanent source of stability. The hosts then reminded the attendees that any anxiety they felt about the climate crisis was “a response of the nervous system” and could be calmed. Similar to the GGN, the hosts further reassured attendees that it was their burden to fix the climate crisis.

The 6 attendees present highlighted the demographic groups targeted by climate change and climate change anxiety. The 6 attendees consisted of three burnt-out activists from Syria, India, and Scotland, respectively, and one further attendee from India, Uganda, and California. The woman from California was the only white person or woman present at the event, though she was from one of the most climate-affected regions of the first world. All attendees were under the age of 25. The attendees from India, Syria, and Uganda described how climate change threatened their own lives and the lives of their communities. The attendees from India and Uganda described worsening heatwaves. The attendee from Uganda hadn’t seen rain in three months - not since a devastating series of rains and flash floods had ripped trees from the ground and killed members of his community. He described these alternating cycles of destruction as a new phenomenon to the region, adding that “it wasn’t like this 10 years ago.” Being personally threatened by a changing climate, these attendees were especially vulnerable to Climate Anxiety.

The Zoom ended with two pieces of music; one for grieving, then one for gratefulness. Attendees were invited to close their eyes and allow the music to dig into their emotions. After the music ended and the attendees opened their eyes, one attendee from India described feeling a “calling voice” during the gratefulness song which “instantly stood out as support,” a

testament to the incredible potential of supporting young people through their Climate Anxiety.

The meeting was an evident success as all attendees were more relaxed and calmer afterwards. All described feelings of relief and release after talking through their Climate Anxiety, being listened to, and allowing themselves to feel. Most were returning attendees that had attended helpful sessions before and needed a safe space to discuss once more, indicating the usefulness and consistent demand for safe climate conversations. This climate Zoom - though limited in scope - supports the hypothesis that periodically discussing climate change alleviates symptoms of Climate Anxiety.

3d) Case Study 2: Climate conversation at BU Academy ​ In order to test the hypothesis that discussing climate change increases interpersonal connection, and the desire to aid the climate crisis and reduces feelings of climate anxiety, a 7-person climate conversation was held as part of the Conversations at BUA series. After the conversation, participants filled out a short questionnaire to report how they felt after the conversation. Results were relatively consistent with the alternative hypothesis but with a greater emphasis on motivation to make change in the climate crisis, with participants showing a marked increase in desire to “to support or become involved in climate activism,” “participate in further climate conversations”, and increased “connection with others,” despite little effect in mood. ​ Four high school freshmen and one sophomore largely drove the conversation, while a senior and three faculty members participated in a secondary role. The conversation's guiding question was “Do you believe your generation has meaningful power to influence climate outcomes?” and included an intent to discuss Climate Anxiety. The conversation quickly focused on addressing potential solutions to the climate crisis on a national level; participants indicated low levels of Climate Anxiety, with

some believing that the crisis isn’t worth worrying about unless one is taking action. Furthermore, the students felt that individuals in their generation had little to no power to influence the crisis, but that their generation as a whole could make meaningful change through activism. Still, students largely felt that the responsibility fell on governments and corporations to incentivize and drive climate action, as these bodies are the main contributors to climate change and have great power to combat it. ​ The follow-up survey showed similar results similarly aligned with the earlier survey of BUA students discussed above, showing low levels of climate anxiety and a low sense of personal guilt despite a willingness to contribute to climate causes. Seven respondents ranked how much they agreed with four questions about the outcome of the conversation on a 1-5 scale. Interestingly, some students felt greater Climate Anxiety after the conversation than before while others felt calmer - the question related to stress had a mean response of 2.71. This evidence suggests that Climate Anxiety may lie ‘dormant’ in some students who gained a new awareness of the climate crisis during the conversation while still supporting the hypothesis that discussions help mitigate Climate Change Anxiety. Further responses show even greater positive impacts in respondents. On average, respondents reported feeling vastly more connected to each other after the conversation (Mean response = 4.14), supporting the hypothesis that conversations build community and understanding. Respondents also reported that they were strongly inclined to attend another climate conversation (Mean response = 4.43), and that they were far more likely to get involved in environmental efforts (Mean response = 3.86) than they were before the conversation. ​ Overall, the conversation and respondent data matched patterns from Case Study 1, and greatly supported the hypothesis that climate discussions build a sense of solidarity in a troubled world. Even if some respondents felt more stressed than before, all were more willing to participate in a climate conversation than

before - indicating the value and use case of safe climate conversations.

Conclusion ​ Much like the climate crisis itself, Climate Anxiety has largely affected the global south with fewer impacts on developed countries and communities like BU Academy. If the climate crisis continues to worsen, rates of Climate Anxiety should naturally follow, especially as sea level rise becomes more pronounced in the following decades in wealthy low-lying areas. Therapists and professional coping mechanisms are in short supply, and young people feel as if solving the climate crisis is up to them.

However, effective treatments are emerging in the form of safe spaces and organizations that prioritize rest, listening to young people, and releasing the burden of climate change to the expansionist systems that initiated it. Academic studies and this thesis demonstrate that comfortable conversations are the most promising way out of the Climate Anxiety epidemic. As the GGN counsels, opening up space for honest and radical thoughts sows the seeds for a cultural climate revolution that may dismantle the systems in charge before it is too late - perhaps our response to Climate Anxiety will end up combating Climate Change itself.

Whether or not the Climate Crisis may be here to stay, talking about our problems just may help them go away.

Appendix Below are the questions developed by Clayton and Karazsia for their 20-point scale. BU Academy students and faculty responded to these in the larger school-wide survey.

1. Thinking about climate change makes it difficult for me to concentrate.

2. Thinking about climate change makes it difficult for me to sleep.

3. I have nightmares about climate change 4. I find myself crying because of climate change 5. I think, “why can't I handle climate change better?”

6. I go away by myself and think about why I feel this way about climate change 7. I write down my thoughts about climate change and analyze them 8. I think, “why do I react to climate change this way?”

9. My concerns about climate change make it hard for me to have fun with my family or friends.

10. I have problems balancing my concerns about sustainability with the needs of my family.

11. My concerns about climate change interfere with my ability to get work or school assignments done.

12. My concerns about climate change undermine my ability to work to my potential.

13. My friends say I think about climate change too much.

14. I have been directly affected by climate change 15. I know someone who has been directly affected by climate change 16. I have noticed a change in a place that is important to me due to climate change 17. I wish I behaved more sustainably 18. I recycle 19. I turn off lights 20. I try to reduce my behaviors that contribute to climate change 21. I feel guilty if I waste energy

22. I believe I can do something to help address the problem of climate change Below is the short questionnaire sent after the small climate conversation. All questions were created by G. Linscott.

1. After this conversation, do you feel more connected to those around you in the midst of the climate crisis? (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree) 2. After this conversation, do you feel calmer or more stressed?

Has your mood changed? (1 = Much calmer, 5 = Much More Stressed) 3. Are you more likely to support or participate in further climate conversations after this conversation? (1 = Not Likely At All, 5 = Very Likely) 4. After this conversation, are you more likely to support or become involved in climate activism, cleanup, etc.? (1 = Not Likely At All, 5 = Very Likely)

Bibliography American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Positive psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/positive-psychology American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Psychological capital. https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/psych ological-capital Belluck, P. (2022, February 6). Climate change is causing anxiety, grief and existential dread.

The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/06/health/climate-anxiet y-therapy.html Charlotte, A. J., & Lucas, C. (2023). “Listen to me!”: Young people’s experiences of talking about emotional impacts of climate change.

Global Environmental Change, 83, 102744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102744 Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69, 101434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434 Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. (n.d.).

Climate-aware therapists. https://www.climatepsychology.us/climate-therapists

Doherty TJ, Clayton S. The psychological impacts of global climate change. Am Psychol. 2011 May-Jun; 66(4):265-76. doi: 10.1037/a0023141.

Ducharme, J. (2022, January 31). How to cope with Climate Anxiety. TIME. Harvard Medical School. (n.d.). Climate anxiety. Harvard Health Publishing. https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/climate-an xiety Hickman, C., et al. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873.

Lewandowski, R. E., Clayton, S. D., Olbrich, L., Sakshaug, J. W., Wray, B., Schwartz, S. E. O., Augustinavicius, J., Howe, P. D., Parnes, M., Wright, S., Carpenter, C., Wiśniowski, A., Perez Ruiz, D., & Van Susteren, L. (2024). Climate emotions, thoughts, and plans among U.S. adolescents and young adults: A cross-sectional descriptive survey and analysis by political party identification and self-reported exposure to severe weather events. The Lancet Planetary Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00229-8 Lindhe, N., Berg, M., Andersson, K., & Andersson, G. (2024). Experiences of undergoing internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for climate change-related distress: A qualitative study.

BMC Psychiatry, 24(1), 775. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06212-1 National Wildlife Federation. (2024, June). From Climate Anxiety to climate action: The impacts of climate change on youth. https://blog.nwf.org/2024/06/from-climate-anxiety-to -climate-action-the-impacts-of-climate-change-on-yo uth/ Nimo, T. K. O. A., Akoto-Baako, H., Antiri, E. O., & Ansah, E. W. (2025). Coping strategies for climate change anxiety: A perspective on building resilience through psychological capital.

BMJ Mental Health, 28, e301421. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2024-301421 Schmidt, L., Lewis Reau, A., & Rivera, C. (2023). How to live in a chaotic climate: 10 steps to reconnect with ourselves, our communities, and our planet. Shambhala Publications.

The Learning Network. (2023, October 12). What teenagers are saying about their role in fighting climate change. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/learning/what-t eenagers-are-saying-about-their-role-in-fighting-clim ate-change.html UNICEF. (n.d.). Climate anxiety. https://www.unicef.org/parenting/mental-health/clim ate-anxiety Valero, M. V. (2025, June). Helping youth move from

Climate anxiety to climate action.

Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/06/youth-climateanxiety-action Vercammen, A., Wray, B., Crider, Y. S., Belkin, G., & Lawrance, E. L. (2025).

Psychological impacts of climate change on U.S. youth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(16), e2311400122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311400122