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‘I’m mad at the people who could have solved the problem’: what kids told us about eco-anxiety (theconversation.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/environment@aussie.zone
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The Australian primary school children we interviewed were not vague about their fears.

They worried about animals going extinct, about rising sea levels, about whether the planet would be liveable when they grew up.

One 12-year-old described thinking about

what will happen when I’m older, and how I’m gonna have to deal with it.

They also understood that human activity played a large role and were frustrated that more hadn’t been done by governments and past generations. One ten-year-old told us:

(I’m) mad at the people who could have solved the problem before now, but they didn’t. They just thought “It’s fine, this problem doesn’t really matter”. And then look at the world now, it’s such a big problem.

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46
‘I’m mad at the people who could have solved the problem’: what kids told us about eco-anxiety (theconversation.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/environment@aussie.zone
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

We interviewed 15 Australian primary school children aged between nine and 12-years-old about environmental change, which includes things such as pollution, climate change and deforestation.

Every child knew the environment was changing, and all of them had feelings about it too. Worry was most common. We also heard sadness, anger and hopelessness.

These were thoughtful, complex responses from children paying attention to the world around them.

For their sake as well as for nature we must pull our finger out and get bolshie with our governments to protect the future (do I hear crickets?)