Several features of adolescence make this climate threat especially damaging:

• Physical vulnerability: Adolescents are undergoing rapid growth, which increases their need for nutrients and rest. Climate-related stressors like food insecurity, extreme heat, and poor air quality can strain their developing bodies and contribute to health problems that interact with mental well-being.
• Emotional intensity: Hormonal shifts and brain development heighten emotional responses.
• Moral awakening: Developmentally, adolescence is a time for forming a personal sense of justice and responsibility. 
• Emerging independence, but limited power: Teens are becoming more aware of the world’s problems, but often lack the societal power to drive major change, creating a painful gap between what they know needs to happen and what they can control.

• Heatwaves and high temperatures can lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion, and poor sleep, which in turn worsen mood regulation and stress tolerance.
• Food insecurity caused by droughts, crop failures, or economic disruption threatens healthy physical growth and brain development, which are especially active during the teenage years.
• Exposure to air pollution and poor water quality heightens the risk of respiratory illness and other chronic health conditions that interact with mental health.

Physical hardship during this sensitive stage can set the stage for lifelong emotional and physical health challenges.

School is not just a place for academic learning; it is where teens develop critical thinking, social skills, and a sense of future possibility. Since brain development in adolescence is shaped by experience, climate change disrupts these cognitive foundations and risks narrowing the opportunities that teens have to build resilient future selves.

• Extreme weather events (like wildfires, hurricanes, and floods) can cause school closures, displace students, and derail academic progress.
• Chronic heat exposure affects cognitive performance, making it harder to concentrate, learn, and retain information.
• Interrupted education can diminish long-term opportunities, fueling hopelessness about the future at an age when adolescents are trying to build dreams and goals.

During adolescence, emotional experiences deepen and peer relationships become central to well-being. Climate change puts intense pressure on these emotional and social bonds. For example:

• Family displacement, loss of homes, or community instability caused by climate disasters sever critical social connections.
• Eco-anxiety, grief, and fear for the future rise as adolescents become more aware of the magnitude of the climate crisis.
• Social isolation, whether from disaster displacement or loss of community resources, can worsen feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and despair.

At the same time, teens are developing their sense of fairness, justice, and responsibility. Witnessing environmental destruction and political inaction can cause deep emotional wounds, including moral injury, a painful sense that trusted adults and institutions have failed to do what is right.

Perhaps most importantly, adolescence is a time when young people are trying to answer core questions: Who am I? What matters to me? How do I make a difference?

Climate disruption strikes at the heart of these developmental tasks:

• It complicates identity formation, as teens struggle to envision a secure or stable future.
• It undermines growing independence, by making the world seem unstable or out of reach.
• It injures emerging moral frameworks, by exposing teens to large-scale injustice that they are powerless to fix.

We know from other forms of stress, such as abuse, neglect, other early life traumatic events, that when developmental milestones are disrupted during adolescence, the downstream impacts can include higher risks of mental illness, reduced civic participation, and difficulty forming trusting relationships in adulthood.

• Indigenous youth are at risk of losing ancestral lands, cultural ties, and traditional ways of life due to environmental degradation, displacement, and resource extraction.
• Low-income adolescents often have less access to cooling systems, green spaces, disaster relief, and stable housing, all of which protect against physical and emotional harm.
• Youth exposed to violence, neglect, or family instability are more vulnerable to the added trauma of climate disruptions and may have fewer supportive adults to help them cope.
• Racial and ethnic minority adolescents are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards like air pollution, urban heat islands, and poor-quality housing. They are also often excluded from formal climate activism spaces and decision-making.

Importantly, these risks compound over time. Adolescents who experience early climate-related trauma without adequate support are more likely to face ongoing mental health challenges into adulthood. In other words, while geography determines who is most exposed to climate risks, social and economic conditions determine who is most able to adapt and recover.

• A 2024 study in the United States of 14- to 24-year-olds found that 60% were very or extremely worried about climate change, and nearly half said it affected their daily lives. Concern was high across political groups, including both Democrats and Republicans, with responses from all 50 states.
  • However, one in five respondents reported feeling “not at all” or only “slightly” worried, indicating a substantial group with low concern.
  • Indifference was higer umong respondents with no direct experience of climate events and those identifying as politically conservative. 
• A landmark global survey in 2021 found that nearly 60% of adolescents 16 to 25 year olds felt very or extremely worried about climate change.
  • Over half said that their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life, concentration, and relationships.
  • Youth living in countries more directly impacted by climate events reported even higher levels of distress.
  • Feelings of adult betrayal, believing that governments and leaders had failed to protect them, were strongly linked to higher sadness, anxiety, and anger.

Other studies highlight that many adolescents are not just fearful, they also experience moral injury, a deep emotional wound caused when trusted systems or adults fail to act according to moral expectations. At the same time, research shows that adolescents are not passive. Participation in collective climate action, especially alongside peers, has been associated with stronger feelings of hope, agency, and resilience.

Recognizing the difference is critical:

• Normal distress includes feelings of sadness, anger, grief, and fear that fluctuate but do not overwhelm daily functioning.
• Early signs of psychiatric illness may include persistent sleep problems, withdrawal from activities, significant drops in academic performance, self-harm, or pervasive hopelessness.

Ultimately, while ecological grief and anxiety are natural, we must learn how to help youth process these emotions in ways that support resilience without dismissing their seriousness or overlooking early signs of psychiatric illness. Trusted adults like teachers, coaches, clergy, and mentors can play a key role in ensuring teens receive timely support.

There are also important research gaps. A systematic evidence and gap map (2025) found that most existing research on climate and child wellbeing focuses on physical health impacts, while much less attention has been paid to mental health, emotional development, or social outcomes. The study also highlighted a lack of evidence on adolescents specifically, with limited research from low- and middle-income countries. More work is needed to understand how climate change affects youth development holistically, including their mental health, sense of agency, and long-term wellbeing. More specifically:

• We need better understanding of which interventions work best for different adolescent populations.
• More studies are needed on how to support youth who are vulnerable to both climate distress and pre-existing mental health risks.
• We need clearer frameworks for integrating climate-related emotional processing into schools, clinics, and community programs.
• With social media serving as a key source of climate information for youth, more data is needed to understand the mental health impacts of social media, including its contribution to knowledge, solidarity, and community versus distress. 

1. Support youth agency and activism.
Teens need opportunities to turn fear and grief into meaningful action. Adults can:

• Encourage participation in youth-led movements like Fridays for Future, Sunrise Movement, and legal initiatives like Our Children’s Trust, which have successfully brought climate cases to court.
• Help teens organize local projects such as community gardens, sustainability clubs, climate education events and support their leadership and agency.
• Provide mentorship for youth interested in advocacy skills: public speaking, lobbying, writing op-eds, or testifying at government hearings.
• Celebrate activism as a form of emotional processing and resilience, not just political action.

Even small acts such as hosting a local clothing swap, advocating for greener school policies, and writing to local officials can give adolescents a sense of contribution and control.

2. Build cross-generational alliances.
Adolescents often describe feeling betrayed or dismissed by adults. Building true partnerships across generations can help restore trust. Adults can:

• Invite youth to co-lead climate initiatives at schools, religious organizations, or community centers.
• Share decision-making power, rather than treating youth input as symbolic.
• Engage with organizations that intentionally bridge generations, such as Zero Hour or local intergenerational climate councils.

When young people work alongside adults who respect their perspectives, they can experience stronger hope, belonging, and commitment to action.

3. Engage in local, place-based solutions.

Not every teen will join a street protest. Research shows that hands-on, tangible projects, such as restoring a creek, planting trees, or designing a school climate-curriculum, build hope, self-efficacy, and social connection. Encourage adolescents to look for problems they can touch and see, then pair them with mentors who can help measure impact.

4. Advocate for systems that center youth.
Individual support matters, but without systemic change, the burden remains too heavy for teens to carry alone. Adults can:

• Push for school-based climate education that integrates socio-emotional learning, helping students process both scientific facts and emotional realities.
• Advocate for expanded mental health services in schools and communities, especially after climate disasters.
• Demand policies that bring youth voices into official decision-making about climate planning and resilience.
• Support public funding for youth organizing, mental health care, and local sustainability initiatives.

At the broadest level, adults must demonstrate that they are taking the climate crisis seriously, through personal and/or political action. Showing up matters, not just for the planet, but for the mental health of the young people who will inherit it.

Several organizations offer support for adolescent mental health, climate activism, and climate education. These resources can help young people, families, educators, and clinicians find community, information, and action opportunities.

• Climate Psychiatry Alliance – Advances understanding and clinical care at the intersection of climate change and mental health. climatepsychiatry.org
• Climate Psychology Alliance North America – Provides resources on emotional resilience, ecological grief, and earth emotions. climatepsychology.us
• Climate Mental Health Network – Offers resources and support for people, especially youth, experiencing climate-related distress. climatementalhealth.net
• Climate Resources for Health Education (CRHE) – Free, expert-reviewed materials for integrating climate and health education, including mental health modules. climatehealthed.org
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) – Offers clinical resources and guidelines for supporting youth mental health, including emerging environmental stressors. aacap.org

• Plant-for-the-Planet (Global) – Trains children and youth as Climate Justice Ambassadors to lead reforestation campaigns. plant-for-the-planet.org
• Fridays for Future – Global youth-led climate strike movement. fridaysforfuture.org
• Sunrise Movement – Youth movement advocating for political action on climate change in the United States. sunrisemovement.org
• Our Children’s Trust – Nonprofit supporting youth-led climate litigation efforts. ourchildrenstrust.org
• Zero Hour – Youth-led organization focused on climate and environmental justice. thisiszerohour.org
• Youth Climate Leaders – International organization offering education and advocacy training for young climate activists. youthclimateleaders.org
• SustyVibes (Nigeria) – Youth-led initiative using art, culture, and community programs to spark sustainability conversations. sustyvibes.org
• Black Girls Rising (South Africa) – A platform uplifting the climate leadership of Black girls aged 12–18. blackgirlsrising.org.za
• Youth Climate Council Ghana – Grassroots organization building youth capacity for climate action and governance. yccghana.com
• Alana Institute (Brazil) – Centering children in media, research, and legal efforts for environmental justice. alana.org.br
• Force of Nature – Youth-led organizations supporting young people aged 16-35 in building capacity for climate engagement through mindset & skill training and generating opportunities. https://www.forceofnature.xyz/

All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal With Climate Change, by Leslie Davenport, illustrated by Jessica Smith, published in 2021 by Magination Press – American Psychological Association

Climate Change and Youth Mental Health, edited by Elizabeth Haase, published in 2024 by Cambridge University Press

Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, by Britt Wray, published in 2022 by Knopf Canada

Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change, by Elizabeth Berchard, published in 2021 by by Citrine Publishing

The promise of adolescence: Realizing opportunity for all youth, edited by Richard J. Bonnie and Emily P. Backes, published in 2019 by The National Academies Press

Comic: A kid’s guide to climate change from NPR Life Kit

Interview: A ‘second pandemic’: Experts sound the alarm over eco-anxiety in young people from WGBH news

Podcast: Climate Anxiety and Kids, featuring Elizabeth Pinsky, MD from the Clay Center for Healthy Young Minds

Video: The Effects of Climate Change on Mental Health – The Essentials from The Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (for professionals)

Adolescents’ unique vulnerabilities to environmental hazards: Fragile Beginnings, by Maria Brown, published by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), December 2024

Talk Climate: resources for starting conversations about climate change with children from birth through adulthood.

Climate and Health Youth Education Toolkit: from the American Public Health Association, toolkit to help public health professionals provide education for students in grades 9 – 12 on climate, health and equity. 

Climate Change and Children’s Health: an overview from the Harvard School of Public Health’s C-CHANGE program

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Author: Amber Acquaye, MD

Amber Acquaye is a psychiatry resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She earned her MD from Yale School of Medicine, where she concentrated in medical education and developed an academic portfolio at the intersection of climate change, child mental health, and justice.

Editor: Colleen Rollins, PhD

Published: April 21, 2026

Acknowledgements: With gratitude to Elizabeth Pinsky, MD, for her guidance and insightful comments.