Join our Mailing List

Encourage and Take Action

Person with open hands holding 3 peopleClimate Mental Health: Encourage and Take Action

Educators can help youth move through grief and anxiety associated with climate change by encouraging action, promoting social connection, supporting collective problem-solving, and nurturing a sense of personal agency. Taking solution-oriented action and building community also builds self-esteem and leadership skills. Research suggests that too much exposure to environmental tragedies (e.g., watching too much news), especially for younger learners, can discourage environmental behavior. David Sobel argues that instead of starting with the impacts of climate change, first help young children understand that their behaviors make a difference. This sense of agency will lead to a curiosity about why their behaviors make a difference, which can then lead to conversations about climate change impacts.

Return to the Climate Mental Health Page.

Focus on solving one small part of the climate crisis instead of the whole thing

Start with small actions within students' control. Look at the climate crisis as a collection of challenges to tackle rather than trying to solve the entire climate crisis. Sharing examples of how youth across the globe have taken action to support climate change mitigation and adaptation with your students can provide inspiration, motivation, and increase efficacy.

Man biking on a street

Teaching Resources

There are many resources in the CLEAN collection that promote climate action:

Nurture student-guided and personal agency

Guide youth towards self-generated solutions that are within their control and personally relevant to encourage agency and empowerment. "Town-watching" has become a useful way for people in Japan and Europe to become more aware of their communities and the potential impacts of and solutions for natural disasters. In town-watching, people walk around town taking photos and notes of various places in their communities, identifying areas that could be susceptible to natural hazards, identifying equipment or spaces available to handle natural hazards, and then creating a community map to ultimately identify solutions. Collecting data on climate impacts in one's community is another effective way to make the issue personally relevant. Citizen science projects such as ISeeChange or CoCoRaHS allow students to explore and record changes in their environment under a changing climate.

Personal planning for the impacts of climate change, such as creating emergency-preparedness kits can foster a feeling of preparedness and help overcome anxiety about possible natural disasters. Include comfort items such as special blankets, toys, photos, journals, or religious or spiritual items.

Student-relevant Activities in CLEAN

Foster care and empathy for nature through play and exploration

Care of the natural world should be fostered early by encouraging personal, place-based action that cultivates enjoyment of nature. A common theme of worry among youth is the impact that climate change has on animals, providing an opportunity to engage students in caring for the animals and plants in their backyards and schools.

Build a positive connection with nature through art, play, exploration, meditation, and reflection.

Shift Westernized thinking of humans as separate from nature to being a part of nature.

Websites that have Resources for Nature-based Exploration:

  • Natural Start Alliance offers a guide for adults on how to engage children in nature.
  • Indigenous STEAM  has a variety of curricula guiding youth in the exploration of water, food, plants, and animals.
  • Learning in Places offers place-based short activities appropriate for parents to do with children AND that are appropriate for the classroom. 

Support collective problem-solving

Invite youth to the table or encourage them to lead community-level action based within a project-based learning framework. "Trying to think just about how you can reduce your personal emissions can feel really lonely, whereas being part of something bigger, finding a community to take action together with -- I think that's a much more empowering way to think about climate change and centers the conversation around those who are responsible for the crisis, which isn't you as an individual." (Morgan Edwards, Climate Action Lab, Univ. Of Wisconsin)

Organizations and Websites that Provide Ideas for Collective Action and Ways to Get Involved

  • Youth Climate Program- The Wild Center works to convene, engage, connect, and empower young people around the world to take action on climate change. 
  • Climate Generation provides resources around collective action for teachers and students and plenty of ways to get involved. 
  • Project Drawdown is the world's leading collection for climate solutions. 
  • National Wildlife Federation Cool Schools encourages students to take a systems-thinking approach to engage in evidence-based science investigations in efforts to reduce their overall carbon footprint. 
  • The ACE Youth Action Network is an active community of more than half a million youth advocates in all 50 states. ACE sends out action alerts every week with ways that you can advocate for climate justice and a fair democracy and provides a place for youth to register to vote.

Take action to influence policy

Research indicates that youth's climate anxiety and distress are often linked to a perceived inadequate government response. Connecting youth with advocacy groups whose aim is to affect policy can empower them and give them a place for their voice to be heard by policymakers.  Encouraging students to meet with congressional leaders, write letters or tweets to policymakers, and teach others in their community about legislative solutions are other direct actions that students can take to impact policy.

The seas are rising and so are we two girls holding up posters

Opportunities for Youth to Join Movements that Affect Policy

  • Climate Generation provides a toolkit for educators to engage youth with the Conference of the Parties.   
  • YOUNGO is the official youth constituency of the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change.  
  • Citizen's Climate Lobby is a grassroots nonpartisan organization that has many opportunities for volunteers to strengthen frontline community voices and build momentum in Congress around climate action. 

Be aware of intersectionality when implementing climate action

When taking action, be aware of the history of intersectionality and Climate Change.  Engaging multiple generations, in collective action brings in different perspectives, inspiring solutions that incorporate the needs of different communities. Find common ground with those that find the proposed solutions threatening livelihoods or cultures.

Examples of Work Being Done at the Intersection of the Environment and Social Justice

  • Our Climate trains youth from communities affected by climate change to participate in advocacy, centering those impacted most by climate change to achieve systemic change.  
  • C40 Cities has published a report that outlines case studies, policies, and engagement processes that take inclusive and equitable climate action. 
Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

Get involved and stay up-to-date with CIRES CEEE.

Join Our Mailing List Donate to CIRES CEEE Get Involved