Need to address mental health within climate change education

Abstract

Education plays a crucial role in equipping young people with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the challenges of adulthood. In the context of the escalating climate crisis, climate change education (CCE) has an essential role in this aim. Despite an increase of research in the area, where young people have been identified as being particularly concerned about climate change, CCE continues to be under-represented in the UK curriculum. This article explores critical considerations for developing an effective approach to CCE. It emphasises the importance of young people’s emotional responses to this aspect of their education that can shape their engagement with the topic. It addresses the need to consider how informal learning through social media and online platforms can have a significant impact on views of the crisis, as well as behaviour. Finally, the article proposes several evidence-based strategies to enhance the integration of CCE into formal education, fostering both critical engagement and actionable understanding among students.

Introduction

Climate change has become an increasingly significant aspect of life across the planet; the impacts of rising temperatures and increasing frequency of severe weather events are a clear indication of the immediacy of the crisis. Young people are growing up in a reality deeply impacted by climate change and facing a future in which they will inherit the task of living with and mitigating the worst impacts of these changes.¹ Moreover, this challenge is inherently psychological as individuals process and make sense of these events, thus, the climate crisis brings with it challenges for mental health.² From the perspective of social justice, education has a duty of care to ensure young people are supported to productively prepare themselves for the uncertain world in which they will be building their adult lives, so that young people are not disadvantaged by the environmental crisis that they have inherited. For the purpose of this article, climate change education (CCE) is defined by its core goals of informing young people about the crisis, engendering practical anxiety to prompt behaviour change and supporting well-being.

However, currently in the UK, CCE is only integrated into certain specific subjects and is taught in an informational, scientific perspective that does not consider the psychological impact of learning about the crisis. Evidence thus far has not supported the idea that an increased awareness of climate change leads to more eco-conscious behaviour.³ A meta-analysis of CCE interventions that focused on knowledge-based interventions found a medium to large effect for climate change knowledge, but only medium to small effects were found on behaviour and attitudes.⁴ The disparity in impact on knowledge and attitudes or behaviour indicates the need for greater attention to the way in which young people attribute meaning to this learning. There is increasing evidence connecting exposure to climate change information and negative impacts on young people’s mental health. The terms eco-anxiety and climate anxiety have emerged to describe how awareness of the crisis has a deep psychological impact.⁵ Thus, if CCE is to prepare young people for a world where they will have to have a relationship with the climate crisis, it is necessary for the subject to evolve, mitigating negative mental health impacts, while ensuring young people are informed. Such teaching should move away from selective constraints and become a core element of student experience, being provided in a broader and psychologically sensitive approach.⁶ Moreover, such provision should be informed and guided by insights from young people regarding influences shaping their perception and understanding of the climate crisis in order to ensure its relevance.⁷ Without this deeper understanding of process, CCE may be unlikely to have an impact on young people’s thinking or behaviour. Invoking devastating catastrophes to stimulate learning fails to consider the mental health implications, potentially leading to heightened anxiety, feelings of helplessness or a deep sense of despair among learners.⁸ Thus, the impact of climate awareness on young people’s mental health is examined and extends to consider the place that the crisis holds in their world views, and the potential direction that CCE could be taken to provide young people with greater support in living through and with the crisis. This article acknowledges that CCE is a relatively new area and continuing research will be necessary to inform the development of interventions and monitor their impacts. Research to date has indicated promising approaches to the subject. However, thus far, interventions have largely been selective and outside of the everyday school curriculum. As CCE becomes increasingly integrated into education and students who may not otherwise be drawn to the subject begin to interact with it, it will be necessary to develop research to reflect this.⁴

CCE and mental health

Young people have been found to be particularly concerned about climate change^{9 10} and this can become eco-anxiety. Eco-anxiety encompasses a range of emotions that are triggered by ruminating on this difficult subject, including grief, anger and guilt⁵ that may fuel climate activism for some adults and be detrimental for others.¹¹ Managing climate change involves tackling complex practical issues such as mitigation and potentially existential worries about the future, making it unsurprising that exposure to these issues can trigger anxiety and worry. It is necessary to consider these emotions to understand both mental health impacts and behaviour.¹² The research base indicates some promising ways in which consideration for mental health can be integrated into CCE to play a role in mitigating negative emotions and fostering constructive hope. Ross et al⁷ built an intervention that combined learning with an activity where participants used their knowledge to make CCE materials. The findings showed that young people’s sense of constructive hope grew through increased self-efficacy. Positive emotions were fostered by community engagement that served to mitigate negative emotions prompted by climate discussion within interventions where learning was combined with concrete local action.¹³ Local action increased participants’ sense of self-efficacy while providing an experience that showed environmental issues can be improved through meaningful action. Thus, young people’s sense of self-efficacy and belief in the reality of environmental solutions were key to their positive emotions that supported them to manage distress triggered by learning about climate change. A current lack of constructive hope was indicated in a study where young people in focus groups initially seemed apathetic, yet through discussion showed that their ingrained reaction stemmed from the assumption that climate disaster is a foregone conclusion.¹⁴ Their disengagement operated as a pragmatic response that protected their mental health. This finding is echoed by Shoreman-Ouimet.⁸ Although individual self-efficacy is significant, young people’s perception of the ability of society as a whole to tackle these issues is also influential. Participants clearly understood the scale of the crisis and suggested that without international government action, their changing behaviour would be meaningless, indicating the mechanism whereby norms of assumed catastrophe negatively impact constructive hope and impetus towards behaviour changes.¹⁴ This tendency towards disengagement indicates that to participate meaningfully in pro-environmental behaviour, young people will require support to engage with this issue that recognises their emotional experiences and helps equip them to deal with difficult, uncertain emotions.

The climate crisis within young people’s world view 

The climate crisis is an increasingly visible part of the daily life of the planet, as is seen in a rise in extreme weather events, with accurate tracing between events and human-created climate change.¹⁵ Regardless of CCE or material shared at school, young people are exposed to a significant volume of climate change information through social media, news and advertising.⁸ The tone of this information is often negative, creating an impression that severe climate impacts are inevitable. This has an impact on young people’s perception of the future.¹ This was supported by research with young people who expressed negative, fatalistic attitudes towards the future.¹⁶ The informal learning that young people encounter may have a serious impact on the meanings that they attribute to formal CCE and have implications for their behaviour.

Environmental choices are made within a plethora of other factors significant in a person’s life, and therefore, it is necessary to understand an individual’s context to understand their behaviour towards environmental factors.¹⁷ For adolescents, increased pressure to gain social acceptance suggests if climate concern is not normalised, it becomes less likely that young people will engage with the issue. Behavioural economics identifies social norms as important drivers of beliefs and actions,¹⁸ suggesting that for CCE to be effective, it would have to have an impact on the norms of a whole school population. Further, adolescents are an important age group to consider as individuals start to form beliefs and habits that will shape their adult life¹⁹ and may have a significant long-term impact. When asked about their experiences of CCE, young people often mentioned learning about specific scientific processes such as the carbon cycle.¹⁴ This information is important, but it fails to acknowledge the societal and emotional aspects of this subject. CCE needs to address climate change in the context of young people’s informal learning, the preconceptions they have already developed and other lifestyle aspects that inform their choices.

Current approaches to CCE

CCE is increasingly recognised as a significant tool in preparing young people for the world beyond school.²⁰ Climate change is included in STEM subjects and geography in England, where the emphasis is on the scientific basis of the crisis.²¹ A meta-analysis with global coverage notes the majority of CCE interventions adopt a natural sciences perspective,⁴ and provision of CCE was not universal. As all young people will be experiencing the impacts of climate change, this is a serious concern. A Department for Education update to their environmental policy mentions CCE training but only for science teachers or those teaching primary school science.²² Although a range of subject teachers believe in the importance of discussing climate change, they do not always feel comfortable with the responsibility.²³ Aeschbach et al⁴ emphasise that climate change is a broad subject that has relevance across subjects, including politics, economics and health. Thus, there is potential for productive CCE integrated within many subjects, including social sciences and potentially creative subjects to encourage processing of thoughts and feelings. Further, a focus on scientific knowledge leaves a gap between the awareness of climate change that young people gain informally, the delivery offered in school and the insights needed to protect an individual’s mental health. Curriculum changes need necessarily to be supported by teacher training and professional development so that teachers feel confident in delivering this aspect of education. The curriculum review, therefore, brings an opportunity for change.²⁴

Potential future paths for CCE

There has been a significant increase in interest in the discussion of CCE, which provides several suggestions for how this area can better serve young people. First, it is necessary to make CCE a universal subject integrated within school culture. Within this expanded subject, it is necessary to consider different dimensions of the curriculum and how these can be developed to effectively work towards the aims of CCE. An experiential dimension of CCE creates space for young people to strengthen their relationship with nature. Engagement with the natural world has been indicated to have mental health benefits²⁵ and can meaningfully support children’s learning.²⁶ In the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, community engagement and respect for indigenous knowledge enriched a relationship with nature that fostered participants’ positive sense of identity and enabled participation in a community and culture.²⁷ There is also a need to develop the cognitive curriculum, particularly relevant in equipping young people to navigate the wealth of information they see through social media. Andersson and Öhman²⁸ signal the importance of schools providing an opportunity for young people to discuss and explore what they see online. They caution that it will also be necessary to navigate climate-sceptical positions and facilitate discussions so that one viewpoint does not dominate. Further, to avoid polarisation, it is important that CCE accounts for young people starting with different social and political beliefs. Sauer et al²⁹ identified more climate scepticism among students who identified as conservative, who later indicated increased support for climate action, having engaged with CCE videos of respected conservative figures stating their own belief in climate change and the importance of action. Integrating CCE into school culture offers an opportunity for practical application, where students can actively participate in pro-environmental actions around the school and local community, demonstrating the practical possibility of solutions. An ability to trust in climate change mitigation has been shown to reduce young people’s negative perceptions of the future.³⁰ Active participation has been shown to have a positive impact on young people’s feelings of self-efficacy and thus helps to create constructive hope.^{2 31 32} Thus, the presence of climate action within schools directly supports the emotional dimension of the curriculum. Schools have the opportunity to teach young people constructive coping methods and emotional regulation techniques to manage the emotional impact of the climate crisis. Equally, it is necessary to foster positive emotions, such as hope, so that young people recognise the value of engaging in pro-environmental behaviour. These dimensions come together to have a joint impact on student beliefs and behaviour. Further, through the development of this area, ongoing research is necessary to measure both the attitudinal and mental health outcomes.

Conclusion

Evidence suggests that, for some young people, the knowledge that climate issues are unavoidable has already triggered mental health difficulties as young people try to find a way of making sense of the crisis and are confronted with arguably a lack of action at the scale necessary to create effective mitigations. CCE has the potential to prepare young people for the reality of living in a changing climate and psychologically support them through the experience of thinking about this difficult subject. However, currently, CCE does not target or consider the mental health aspect of this subject nor the negative underlying beliefs that young people have developed from media presentations of the issue. Going forward, CCE needs to become a broader subject that supports the whole individual and not just their scientific knowledge. Thus, better to equip young people to engage with and develop a healthy relationship with the reality of the crisis we are living through.