Youth Mental Health at Risk Over Climate Inaction: Governments and Companies Own Their Angst
By Scott Poynton, Skytop Contributor / November 9th, 2021
Scott Poynton is an Australian forester. He founded The Forest Trust (TFT) in 1999 and grew it into a global non-profit working in 48 countries, impacting more than $1 trillion in supply chain transactions.
Scott supported some of the world’s largest companies to be more environmentally and socially responsible. He brokered major transformations across the wood and agri-commodities sectors, pioneering responsible sourcing and launching the world’s first No Deforestation, No Exploitation commitments.
In 2020, Scott founded The Pond Foundation. Its My Carbon Zero program helps individuals and businesses take their own strong, credible climate action. He also leads a different way limited, supporting C-suite executives and their organizations to grow values-based leadership while sharing the lessons of his experience through writing, presenting and lecturing.
A Generation in Deep Despair
The private sector is failing as much as governments but have an opportunity to inspire a generation desperately in need of reasons to be hopeful.
Findings from a survey of 10,000 young people aged between 16-25 years across 10 countries, including the United States, point to a generation deeply despairing for their future. For business leaders who care about the well-being of both the next generation and the planet, this should be a major concern.
Even if you don’t care, the results show that your business’ future workforce is in a dark place. This will affect you.
Governments Failing Our Youth
This survey is said to be the largest ever of climate anxiety in children and young people. The survey team, led by the UK’s Bath University in collaboration with five other universities, concludes that youth climate anxiety is linked to government inaction.
Young people look to their governments to lead and to tackle these global scale problems. A cynical cycle of commitments and subsequent inaction have left 58% of children and young people surveyed saying that governments were “betraying me and/or future generations,” while 64% said their governments are not doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe.
The survey reveals that there is widespread psychological distress among children and young people globally. The study warns that “such high levels of distress, functional impact and feelings of betrayal will negatively affect the mental health of children and young people.”
Tomorrow’s Leaders Fall on Deaf Ears
Our future generation, your future employees, our future leaders are telling us that:
59% of children and young people surveyed were very or extremely worried about climate change.
More than half of respondents said they had felt afraid, sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and/or guilty.
55% of respondents felt they would have fewer opportunities than their parents.
65% felt governments were failing young people, while 61% said the way governments deal with climate change was not “protecting me, the planet and/or future generations.”
Almost half (48%) of those who said they talked with others about climate change felt ignored or dismissed.
The study confirms what those working on climate change have long known. Climate despair is a global mental health crisis and every time there’s a new natural disaster linked to climate change, young people’s anxiety goes up a notch. In Portugal, for example, which has recently witnessed serious wildfires, 81% of young people believe the future is frightening. This figure jumps to 92% in the Philippines.
Company Failure Cost More than Disappointment
While the survey points to government inaction as the main anxiety driver, this doesn’t let businesses off the hook. There are precious few businesses, just as there are only a handful of governments, that can point to their own credible climate action programs.
Business leaders who make bold climate commitments only to spend much of their vast marketing budgets greenwashing their inaction create cynicism too. In the current era of ‘business purpose,’ it should come as no surprise that young people don’t want to work for companies that act like that.
Worse, businesses that do nothing simply won’t attract young people who want to do something on climate change, even if they’re not sure what. In the face of the ‘Great Resignation,’ and the emergence of the ‘Lying Flat’ movement, business leaders looking to staff their companies with high potential candidates would be wise to better understand what motivates or demotivates young people from wanting to work with them.
Responsible business leaders have a chance to act here to create a sense of hope among young people.
Connection Alleviates the Pain
Doing something and being part of a community are cited as ways to overcome despair and anxiety. We can each do something in the fight against climate change and business leaders themselves could benefit from showing at least some leadership on the issue.
Too often, business leaders wait for governments to lead on climate change. On issues of more direct consequence to their bottom lines, leaders take bold immediate action. On climate change, they’re too willing to carry on business as usual until governments make laws to force them to do otherwise. It’s a ‘want cake and eat it’ mentality that doesn’t sit well with a young generation already feeling betrayed and anxious for their futures.
Simple Steps
I’ve written elsewhere here on Skytop around the simple steps that companies can take to get moving on climate change. It isn’t difficult, and it needn’t cost a fortune. It can give you a strong, credible brand story that just might encourage young people to offer you the time of their day.
Beyond that direct business benefit though, business leaders, as members of society, might simply ask themselves if having a great percentage of our future generation suffering from despair, anxiety and mental health issues is a good thing.
It surely is not.
Climate change action isn’t just about some vague notion around saving the planet. It’s not even just about your bottom line. It’s as much about offering a reason to believe to future generations. That seems like a business purpose worth pursuing.