![Young people at a climate protest](https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/young-people-at-a-climate-protest.jpg?id=32139456&width=1200&height=400&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C81%2C0%2C168)
Schoolchildren march down Queen Street during a climate change protest on May 24, 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Climate Inaction Has Left Majority of Young People Believing Humanity Is 'Doomed'
International survey reveals 'shocking' rise of eco-anxiety and hopelessness. "If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?"
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" --Avaaz
\u201cA shocking 58% of the children and young people surveyed say that governments are betraying them. If this isn\u2019t a wake up call for world leaders, what is? #WeFeelThisToo\u201d— Avaaz (@Avaaz) 1631624895
\u201cBetrayed. Ignored. Abandoned.\n\nGovernments, this is how young people feel about your failure to protect our home.\n\nHope comes through action. #ActOnClimate \n\nhttps://t.co/2O3SzjZcJB\u201d— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) 1631628047
The survey "shows eco-anxiety is not just for environmental destruction alone, but inextricably linked to government inaction on climate change. The young feel abandoned and betrayed by governments," Hickman told the BBC. "Governments need to listen to the science and not pathologize young people who feel anxious."
The survey results were released less than two months ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), where policymakers will meet in Glasgow to discuss commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, provide climate mitigation support for frontline communities across the globe, and rapidly transition to an emissions-free energy system.
Young people are "doing everything we can" to push for climate action, Neubauer told Thomson Reuters, "but that won't be enough."
"We won't fix it" through the Fridays for Future movement, she added. "We need everyone there."
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"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" --Avaaz
\u201cA shocking 58% of the children and young people surveyed say that governments are betraying them. If this isn\u2019t a wake up call for world leaders, what is? #WeFeelThisToo\u201d— Avaaz (@Avaaz) 1631624895
\u201cBetrayed. Ignored. Abandoned.\n\nGovernments, this is how young people feel about your failure to protect our home.\n\nHope comes through action. #ActOnClimate \n\nhttps://t.co/2O3SzjZcJB\u201d— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) 1631628047
The survey "shows eco-anxiety is not just for environmental destruction alone, but inextricably linked to government inaction on climate change. The young feel abandoned and betrayed by governments," Hickman told the BBC. "Governments need to listen to the science and not pathologize young people who feel anxious."
The survey results were released less than two months ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), where policymakers will meet in Glasgow to discuss commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, provide climate mitigation support for frontline communities across the globe, and rapidly transition to an emissions-free energy system.
Young people are "doing everything we can" to push for climate action, Neubauer told Thomson Reuters, "but that won't be enough."
"We won't fix it" through the Fridays for Future movement, she added. "We need everyone there."
"If this isn't a wake up call for world leaders, what is?" --Avaaz
\u201cA shocking 58% of the children and young people surveyed say that governments are betraying them. If this isn\u2019t a wake up call for world leaders, what is? #WeFeelThisToo\u201d— Avaaz (@Avaaz) 1631624895
\u201cBetrayed. Ignored. Abandoned.\n\nGovernments, this is how young people feel about your failure to protect our home.\n\nHope comes through action. #ActOnClimate \n\nhttps://t.co/2O3SzjZcJB\u201d— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) 1631628047
The survey "shows eco-anxiety is not just for environmental destruction alone, but inextricably linked to government inaction on climate change. The young feel abandoned and betrayed by governments," Hickman told the BBC. "Governments need to listen to the science and not pathologize young people who feel anxious."
The survey results were released less than two months ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), where policymakers will meet in Glasgow to discuss commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, provide climate mitigation support for frontline communities across the globe, and rapidly transition to an emissions-free energy system.
Young people are "doing everything we can" to push for climate action, Neubauer told Thomson Reuters, "but that won't be enough."
"We won't fix it" through the Fridays for Future movement, she added. "We need everyone there."