Eco-Anxiety Resources
Kids’ concerns about the environment are real. With the right support, so is their ability to act.
When kids are worried about the environment, they can feel scared, overwhelmed and even hopeless. This is called eco-anxiety. But what can we do about it?
Turn Eco-Anxiety into Eco-Action
Eco-anxiety is a valid response to the real challenges our kids see around them. As adults, our job isn’t to make their concerns go away; it’s to help channel them into positive action. When we validate our kids’ concerns and demonstrate how our actions–even the small ones–make a difference, we can transform feelings of anxiety into feelings of empowerment.
Eco-Anxiety Research
Overall, our findings show that while the rising concern over climate change has led to increased eco-anxiety in Canadian children, Earth Rangers helps directly address this environmental anxiety by one, creating more awareness around the causes of environmental challenges, and two, offering education around how to take effective action toward a sustainable future. This holds true across demographics, extending to both children and adults, creating the opportunities we need to empower the next generation of conservationists and their families.
This year, Earth Rangers followed up on their groundbreaking 2020 study developed in collaboration with Ipsos Canada, to capture attitudes and actions related to environmental issues by children (age 6-11) and their parents across Canada and the US.
2020 Research by Earth Rangers, Ipsos Canada, and leading experts in the field of mental health and climate change shows that some level of concern about the environment can be useful and healthy when it leads to environmental action. It also found that Earth Rangers members are far more likely to engage in environmental action, feel empowered, be hopeful about the future, and believe they can make a big difference. This is strong evidence that helping our children discover their ability to act on environmental challenges leads to hope, optimism, and a brighter outlook for the future of the planet.
Earth Rangers members are far more likely to engage in environmental action, feel empowered, be hopeful about the future, and believe they can make a big difference.
