This text is part of the special Acfas Congress notebook
In order to combat eco-anxiety among adolescents and to support them, several youth organizations in schools and communities are working hard to help them mobilize in the fight against climate change. These initiatives will be at the heart of a conference entitled Adolescents facing the climate crisis: interesting initiatives to put them into action and support them in the presence of ecoanxiety, at 91e Acfas Congress.
The event aims to combine scientific and experiential knowledge on approaches to supporting adolescents in their mobilization to the environmental cause. It also aims to help them in their experiences of ecoanxiety, explains Anne-Sophie Denault, full professor of psychoeducation at Laval University and head of the conference.
Organizations will also make presentations on the issue, including strategies to help adolescents accept their climate-related emotions.
“What we are looking for is to give hope to young people. This involves offering them structured, accessible, interesting opportunities, in secondary schools or in the community,” adds M.me Denault. It puts them into action, it allows them to see that they can play a role.
Ecoanxiety not always negative
Ecoanxiety shouldn’t always be seen as a negative thing, says Mme Denault. “It can be eco-lucidity, eco-distress. These are emotions that are adaptive and normal. Everyone should be feeling it right now about climate change because if we don’t feel anything, we’ll never do anything,” she explains.
Like any other emotion, ecoanxiety can become a driving force for action, believes Nessa Ghassemi-Bakthiari, doctoral candidate in psychology at UQAM. The one whose thesis focuses on the determinants of ecoanxiety in adolescence will give a conference on the issue as part of the conference.
A report from the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation published in 2021 concludes that 90% of young Quebecers are concerned about climate change. A total of 65% experience “at least a little” ecoanxiety, and 15% experience it often or even daily.
According to the researcher, young people disproportionately suffer the direct and indirect repercussions of global warming. And their reaction will depend on ecosystem factors, such as the family and school environment, participation in civic engagement activities and the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors. “There are some who can influence the way we will experience the reality of climate change and respond to it. And it can lead us towards transformations as well as harm our health and our well-being,” she illustrates.
Organizations at the front
In order to help young people mobilize for the climate, several organizations offer them activities in schools or communities. Thus, the organization Éco-Motion, founded in 2020, supports people struggling with ecoanxiety through environmental psychology workshops. “There are emotional regulation strategies that we can teach adolescents to enable them to better manage what they are experiencing, know how to communicate their emotions and recognize their adaptive side,” explains Anne-Sophie Denault.
Concrete actions then allow you to better manage these emotions. “When we take action, these emotions often dissolve because we feel like we’re making a difference, we meet people who look like us and who have the same values as us,” she adds. Some adolescents also feel alone when it comes to their emotions. “Uniting them towards a common project helps them a lot,” believes the professor.
Mme Denault cites the case of the social and environmental innovation laboratory Lab 22, which supports educational establishments in the ecological transition. For its part, the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation created the Get Out of Your Bubble mobilization campaign to encourage young people to get involved in the fight against climate change. The organization also brings together around a hundred teenagers from the province each spring to its Youth Summit on Climate Change. “For two days, young people who are already concerned about the environment work, do workshops and attend conferences,” lists the researcher.
Make the climate cause cool
Educational institutions, governments and society have their role to play in the well-being of young people in the face of climate change, believes Ms.me Ghassemi-Bakthiari. “They can highlight environmental challenges so that it is much easier for young people to get more involved and not lose hope in this fight,” she believes.
However, certain family or school environments do not promote the climate cause. “The problem with adolescence is that it’s not necessarily cool to get involved in the environment. Social norms are not yet very positive there, observes Professor Denault. We really need to change this at the societal level. »
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