Eco-Anxiety in Children: How Climate Worries Are Impacting Young Minds

Children today are growing up in a world where climate change isn’t a distant threat; it’s a daily headline. From floods and heatwaves to wildfires and polluted air, environmental crises are no longer abstract concepts but real-life experiences. As a result, more children are reporting feelings of fear, helplessness, and anxiety about the planet’s future, a condition now known as eco-anxiety.

Eco-anxiety is not a clinical diagnosis, but mental health experts, including those from the American Psychological Association and UNICEF, acknowledge it as a growing psychological concern. For children, who are still developing emotionally and cognitively, this kind of persistent worry can affect sleep, school performance, behaviour, and their sense of safety in the world.

Eco-anxiety refers to chronic fear or distress about environmental doom, particularly the long-term consequences of climate change. While it can affect adults too, children and teens are especially vulnerable because they are more sensitive to global issues, more idealistic, and less equipped to process complex emotional topics.

A global survey published in The Lancet Planetary Health (2021) found that over 59% of children and young people felt very or extremely worried about climate change, and more than half said these worries affected their daily lives.

Children may not always articulate their fears clearly, but eco-anxiety often shows up in subtle ways:

Younger children may show it through mood swings or clinginess. Older children and teens might express it through activism, withdrawal, or deep frustration at adults and systems.

Eco-anxiety in children is driven by multiple factors:

If left unaddressed, eco-anxiety can lead to emotional overwhelm. Children may become pessimistic, disengaged, or overly perfectionistic in their behaviour. In some cases, it may contribute to depression, generalised anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Some children may try to take on unrealistic levels of responsibility, refusing to eat certain foods, giving up hobbies, or isolating themselves socially out of fear that they are “harming the Earth.” While concern for the planet is admirable, these behaviours can lead to burnout and emotional exhaustion.

1. Acknowledge Their Feelings

Don’t dismiss their worries with phrases like “You’re too young to worry about this.” Instead, say things like, “It makes sense that you feel this way. Many people care about the planet like you do.”

2. Offer Age-Appropriate Information

Provide facts that empower, not scare. Explain what is being done globally to solve the problem — such as renewable energy, reforestation, or plastic bans to help children see that progress is possible.

3. Model Calm and Action-Oriented Thinking

Children watch how adults react. If you show constant worry or anger about the environment, they may mirror that. Instead, model small, positive actions like using cloth bags or composting and explain their impact.

4. Create Safe Spaces for Expression

Allow children to talk about their fears openly. Encourage drawing, journaling, or storytelling as ways to process emotions they may not be able to explain directly.

5. Involve Them in Solution-Based Activities

Let them take small, meaningful steps like planting trees, recycling, participating in clean-up drives, or making posters for school. These activities help turn helplessness into purpose.

6. Limit Distressing Media Exposure

Curate the news they are exposed to. Avoid leaving the news on in the background or allowing unrestricted access to social media content about disasters.

7. Prioritise Mental Health

If your child’s eco-anxiety affects their sleep, appetite, schoolwork, or mood for more than two weeks, consider speaking to a child psychologist. Counselling or play therapy can help children build resilience.

It is important that climate education in homes and schools doesn’t focus only on threats. Children must also be taught about resilience, innovation, and hope. Introduce them to young changemakers, sustainable inventions, and community efforts that show how the world is fighting back.

Focus on the message that every generation has its challenges, and this one, while serious, is being met by millions of people around the globe. Let your child see themselves as part of that story.

Climate change is real, and so are children’s feelings about it. Eco-anxiety is not a weakness; it is a natural, empathetic response to witnessing a world in distress. But it should not be allowed to turn into chronic fear or helplessness.

As adults, we have a dual responsibility: to act on climate change and to support the emotional health of the generation growing up amidst it. Through balanced education, emotional validation, and meaningful action, we can help our children grow into climate-conscious citizens who are informed, not afraid.