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Eco-Anxiety Affects More Than Three Quarters of Children Under 12

by Will Jones
3 February 2025 7:30 PM

‘Eco-anxiety’ affects more than three quarters of children under 12, a crisis that teachers say they are unable to cope with, new polling by Greenpeace has found. The Telegraph has the story.

New polling commissioned by Greenpeace found that teachers are unable to cope with the unprecedented number of pupils who report feeling worried about climate change.

The YouGov survey asked more than 600 children under 12 about their feelings towards global warming, finding that 78% were worried about the issue.

The firm also polled 505 primary school teachers and found that 70% did not have enough time in the school day to help pupils with concerns about the environment.

The research from Greenpeace also suggested 82% of teachers would find lesson plans and resources to support children with their worries useful.

To help teachers and parents discuss the climate crisis with children, the campaign group has produced guidelines written by Caroline Hickman, a psychotherapist and self-described “leading researcher into eco-anxiety and climate psychology”.

Ms Hickman advocates a ruthless approach to the problem, warning that parents who shelter their children from truths about climate change could “put them at a disadvantage”, and that trying to protect children in this way “may not be feasible or helpful”. …

The National Education Union has also issued guidance on declaring a climate emergency in schools.

Written by a London secondary school teacher, it calls for climate change to be embedded throughout the curriculum to ensure future generations leave school “hyper-aware” of the crisis.

“This will empower young people to pressure governments and businesses to act and we hope many young people might be inspired to enter careers combating ecological degradation and global warming,” the guide states.

Eco-anxiety appears to increase as children age. A major global poll from 2021 found that half of young people believed that humanity was “doomed” as a result of climate change.

Co-ordinated by Bath University, the project surveyed 10,000 people aged 16-25 across 10 countries, finding that almost 60% felt very worried or extremely worried about the issue, with almost half (45%) saying these anxieties affected their daily lives.

The solution to a crisis of anxiety is the “ruthless” exposure of children to even more alarmist material? You can’t make this stuff up.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: ChildrenClimate AlarmismEco-anxietyGreta ThunbergSchools

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    36 Comments
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    Jabby Mcstiff
    Jabby Mcstiff
    3 months ago

    They really messed them up. They created the hellish conditions of the reality that children face now and they steer that unhappiness in order to feed their own agenda, that essentially their very existence is to blame. Just so you know who you are up against. In case you feel squeamish about being harsh with them.

    10
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    Jack the dog
    Jack the dog
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Jabby Mcstiff

    The people responsible for this state of affairs need to hang.

    Their heads in shame.

    8
    0
    transmissionofflame
    transmissionofflame
    3 months ago

    I think this is a crock of crap. Greenpeace have an interest in pushing this stuff. I overhear kids under 12 talking to their mates and their parents and I have NEVER heard any of them mention “eco anxiety”.

    8
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    A. Contrarian
    A. Contrarian
    3 months ago
    Reply to  transmissionofflame

    Agree, my daughter is 10 and I haven’t seen a single sign of her friends being anxious in this way, I’m sure it happens but not to the extent that is being claimed.

    Most of them are home educated admittedly, so not subjected to whatever goes on around the subject in schools, but inevitably they are still hearing about it all the time.

    Last edited 3 months ago by A. Contrarian
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    0
    transmissionofflame
    transmissionofflame
    3 months ago
    Reply to  A. Contrarian

    Kids probably gave the answers they thought they were expected to give, or gave an answer based on what they had heard, then forgot about it again. I suppose I might have said I was worried about the threat of nuclear war when I was that age back when the Cold War was still a thing, but I can’t say it’s something I gave any more than passing thought to, and any “anxiety” in my life was from the usual stuff that young people are anxious about, which in the rich world is certainly nothing political and everything to do with one’s own little world.

    3
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    Jabby Mcstiff
    Jabby Mcstiff
    3 months ago

    You need to tell children that in extreme conditions there is no substitute for animal skins. I love all this lightweight Goretex stuff it is a blessing in so many situations but in times of really dark and evil weather and monsters you need wool and skin and fur. These synthetic fibres don’t last in traumatic situations.

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    Lockdown Sceptic
    Lockdown Sceptic
    3 months ago

    I think there are more worried about who’s staying in locals hotels.

    7
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    Howard Arnaud
    Howard Arnaud
    3 months ago

    This is the inevitable result of Socialist control of the education system, and why they’re so keen to take education out of the hands of children’s parents or the private sector.

    As Bertrand Russell explained in The Impact of Science on society (1952):

    This subject will make great strides when it is taken up by scientists under a scientific dictatorship. Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black, but no one believed him. The social psychologists of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakeable conviction that snow is black. Various results will soon be arrived at. First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark grey. Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician’s paradise. The social effects of scientific technique have already been many and important, and are likely to be even more noteworthy in the future. Some of these effects depend upon the political and economic character of the country concerned; others are inevitable, whatever this character may be.

    Bertrand Russell was a eugenicist.

    Climate catastrophism is a eugenics project. The aim is to reduce the human population to no more than 2 billion, which is the whole point of the UN’s sustainability agenda.

    8
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    Marcus Aurelius knew
    Marcus Aurelius knew
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Howard Arnaud

    What is the world’s human population, actually, and how are we to know?

    2
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    Howard Arnaud
    Howard Arnaud
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

    Approaching 8 billion.

    It’s projected to start falling in the latter part of this century, but that’s modelling…

    3
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    Matt Dalby
    Matt Dalby
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Howard Arnaud

    It’s impossible to say what the population is, however the best estimate is 7.8-7.9 billion. It’s likely that the population reached 6 billion in 1999 and 7 billion in 2011. Therefore the rate at which it’s increasing is slowing down and is almost certainly going to keep decreasing as more and more people are lifted out of poverty and are able to plan the size of their family. Therefore I think that models that predict the population peaking at about 9-10 billion around 2050 then gradually decreasing are in the right ball park.

    4
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    Cirdan
    Cirdan
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Matt Dalby

    The notion that wealth will grow and lift more people out of poverty assumes that the underlying mechanisms, that is, a (largely) free market and personal freedom, the factors that enable innovation and enterprise, will be left in place. Many governments right now are working towards the opposite.

    2
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    Cirdan
    Cirdan
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Howard Arnaud

    ah modelling, the same method that predicts climate change and how masks will stop covid. I guess they are banking on the concept of “third time lucky” so this time the prediction might be right?

    2
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    Howard Arnaud
    Howard Arnaud
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Cirdan

    Modelling is a curse on humanity, and has been ever since Malthus.

    The only thing you can say about it with certainty is that it’s always wrong.

    The trouble is, it impresses people who have limited capability for deep thinking, like politicians for example.

    1
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    varmint
    varmint
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Howard Arnaud

    Well done—–Nailed it. Pretty much like most people visiting a site like this know. ——–Most ordinary people I know, friends and family will glaze over if I talk about anything like this. Most have no clue what Sustainable Development is and simply accept that the climate is changing all around them because they see extreme weather events beamed via satellite to their TV sets. If i say to people “Have you ever looked at any climate data?” they will look at me like I am from Mars. ——-Propaganda is a very powerful tool and that is why governments love using it. They have managed to convince 90% of the public that climate change is all about “science” when infact it is “Official science” in support of a Political Agenda that seeks to control the worlds wealth, resources and YOU

    0
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    Tonka Rigger
    Tonka Rigger
    3 months ago

    Parenting fail or grossly exaggerated propaganda? I will continue to teach my children the truth, and not to believe the nonsensical hyperbole pushed on them by dishonest actors and naive teachers.

    10
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    Marcus Aurelius knew
    Marcus Aurelius knew
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Tonka Rigger

    I ask them to think.

    8
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    Jabby Mcstiff
    Jabby Mcstiff
    3 months ago

    This is crazy this acquiescence in a descent into hell. For those of us who remember the 1970s and 1980s this is a descent into hell. It might behove you to ask what went wrong and if you played any part in it. You might come away feeling squeeky clean but it wouldn’t take me a second to show you that you certainly weren’t. Nothing can move on before this work is done. Admittance, remorse, contrition. The alternative is far more unpleasant even if you can’t see it. At best it will be Groundhog Day but Groundhog Day doesn’t last very long in a predatory environment.

    2
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    MajorMajor
    MajorMajor
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Jabby Mcstiff

    Being 58, I do remember the 70’s and 80’s.
    There was none of this crap going on.
    Eco-anxiety? What?
    I might have had some anxiety asking out girls that I fancied but then again, I was a bit shy.

    8
    0
    Marcus Aurelius knew
    Marcus Aurelius knew
    3 months ago
    Reply to  MajorMajor

    Surely it’s because you were gender-questioning, MajorMajor.

    4
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    MajorMajor
    MajorMajor
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

    I guess that’s one way of putting it.
    I was questioning how best I could combine my male gender with an attractive girl’s female gender in a mutually acceptable way.
    Eventually I cracked it with a young lady who is now my wife.

    6
    0
    Arum
    Arum
    3 months ago
    Reply to  MajorMajor

    Same age, I remember being intensely anxious about nuclear war at that time. Protect and survive etc. Of course there was nothing I could have done about it so, looking back, worrying was no use. Of course I was an ardent little unilateralist so probably it was just as well I didn’t even have a vote!

    2
    0
    Jabby Mcstiff
    Jabby Mcstiff
    3 months ago

    It is horrible to admit not only the degraded state of things but also your own ignorance of these processes. Makes you feel like a bit of a thick prat. Don’t let this put you off. Different people cotton on to this agenda at different times there isn’t any heirarchy. There does come a point though a reas nexus point which I think has been reached by the Anglo-Saxons where either they join the new reality or stick with the old. It is your decision but I would recommend against sticking with the old reality.

    0
    0
    Jabby Mcstiff
    Jabby Mcstiff
    3 months ago

    The English agrarian workers used to refuse to work on Mondays because they got so hammered on Sunday that they needed a day to recover. If nothing else then please bring this back.

    2
    0
    Art Simtotic
    Art Simtotic
    3 months ago

    At their age I had Missile Crisis anxiety. Thankfully over 60 years later we’re all still here.

    My parents had blitz anxiety, rationing anxiety and jackboot anxiety. I suspect my uncle had conscription anxiety. My Grandad had Trench anxiety, alleviated to some degree by the ciggies officers handed out to calm mens’ nerves, which in later life manifested as gasping-for-breath anxiety. My great grandfather had TB anxiety, unsurprising when you’re dying at 44 of the real thing. All of my other great grandfathers must have suffered from staying-alive anxiety, as none made 50.

    Cheer up kids, it’ll never happen. Your life expectancy is well past 80, thanks to sanitation, piped water, plenty to eat, central heating, double glazing and mains electricity – that miraculous flow of electrons down copper wires, still to this day only generable on scale 24/7/365 by burning hydrocarbons or controlled nuclear fission.

    Clean energy is wishful thinking and dirty lies. Whatever you do, don’t get taken in by Planet Savers in general, Uncle Misery Mann’s bent hockey stick, in particular, and your morbid distant cousin Greta.

    Now clear off out and get some fresh air, for God’s sake.

    Last edited 3 months ago by Art Simtotic
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    varmint
    varmint
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Art Simtotic

    Vey good comment but were previous generations subjected to the overwhelming barrage of propaganda that young people today are bombarded with about the climate? I think not. Climate Change is the greatest pseudo scientific fraud ever perpetrated and it is no surprise that kids are badly affected and even adults run around gluing themselves to the street and throwing paint at works of art.

    0
    0
    Matt Dalby
    Matt Dalby
    3 months ago

    I can’t help feeling sorry for young people, they’ve been indoctrinated into believing in eco-armaggeddon so it’s hardly surprising that they’re anxious about the future. In very general terms anxiety, along with other mental health conditions, means people have irrational thoughts/beliefs even though these beliefs seem completely rational to the person who has them. One way of helping/supporting people with mental health problems is to help them to realise their beliefs are irrational and help them to develop far more positive beliefs/ways of thinking. Obviously Greenpeace aren’t suggesting this is the best way to help young people, along with ending indoctrination to prevent these problems from arising.

    5
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    Climan
    Climan
    3 months ago

    The only eco-anxiety I have seen was during a protest organised for school kids, a forlorn group of several of them were seen wandering around looking for attention, of which there was none.

    3
    0
    DrDan
    DrDan
    3 months ago

    They should teach children how fear can be used to manipulate people, that way less of them would fall for this crap.

    4
    0
    beaniebean
    beaniebean
    3 months ago

    It’s extraordinary that the eco zealots fail to realise that they are creating the anxiety not assuaging children’s fears.
    My little grandson told me how worried he was by the lessons on climate change (propaganda) in schools and was only reassured by my simplistic explanation that climate has always changed but that technology and human ingenuity has enabled us not just to survive, but to thrive!
    Why are we allowing scientifically illiterate primary school teachers to indoctrinate our children and persuade them that humans have God-like powers to control the climate?
    if he had told me that he was the Messiah who could personally influence global climate I would have referred him for urgent psychiatric treatment!
    Fortunately I was able to reassure him that I was told by a teacher in my childhood that there would be standing room only on earth by 2000 which was clearly also utterly ridiculous!

    3
    0
    A. Contrarian
    A. Contrarian
    3 months ago
    Reply to  beaniebean

    Really, if human-induced climate change is actually causing a crisis, then we would be far better off putting all our efforts and skills into the technology and human ingenuity that you mention and actually finding a way through it rather than wasting time and money on ridiculous initiatives like banning anaesthetics because they might produce a tiny puff of carbon. If they’re going to teach kids about this huge threat why not focus instead on encouragement and positivity about finding solutions so that they feel empowered to do something about it rather than making them all feel so depressed about the boiling earth that they can barely get out of bed?

    1
    0
    Michael Staples
    Michael Staples
    3 months ago

    “The YouGov survey asked more than 600 children under 12 about their feelings towards global warming, finding that 78% were worried about the issue.

    The firm also polled 505 primary school teachers and found that 70% did not have enough time in the school day to help pupils with concerns about the environment.”
    I really doubt the validity of the answers. Another worthless survey by a campaigning group.

    1
    0
    Purpleone
    Purpleone
    3 months ago
    Reply to  Michael Staples

    I’d love to see the questions – reminds me 100% of the brilliant Yes Minister scene where Humphrey schools Bernard on how to manipulate a survey to get the answers you need… if you’ve not seen it, well worth a look on YouTube. A masterclass in manipulation

    0
    0
    RTSC
    RTSC
    3 months ago

    Sounds to me like they’re checking whether the brainwashing is working … and whether it needs to be ramped up.

    2
    0
    varmint
    varmint
    3 months ago

    Government and the Consolidated Media are responsible for all of this. When you fill people’s heads with stuff that is mostly not true or that is only a smidgeon of the truth, and you present it as a danger to life and limb and to the existence of the whole planet with billions likely to die and all manner of other evidence free drivel in support of Political Agenda’s then it is only to be expected that this will have a detrimental effect on people. Young people in particular, who are more likely to treat what they hear in school and on TV as factual and who are oblivious to the fact that there may be politics involved will be very susceptible to brainwashing and this clearly affects their well being. Many older people are also affected by this one sided presentation of a “climate crisis” that is everywhere they look to the extent that it is perceived as ultimate truth. Many will feel they must take action and will join activist groups and glue themselves to the street and indulge in disruptive activities because they fear the world is in danger. ——All the time we hear from governments worried about “Misinformation”. When infact it is government themselves, aided by mainstream media who are the spouters of most of it.

    2
    0
    PR64
    PR64
    3 months ago

    Killing childhood to “save” nothing

    this climate BS is pure lunacy

    3
    0

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