Washington Examiner
‘Climate anxiety’ is a result of media-driven fear, not government inaction
Opinion by Katelynn Richardson - Yesterday 4:40 PM
The WHO recently released a “Mental health and Climate Change” policy brief. Climate change, it says, “exacerbates many social and environmental risk factors” for mental health. Its proposed solutions are predictable: more funding, greater commitment to international climate agreements, and increased government intervention.
Climate anxiety, also known as solastalgia, eco-anxiety, environmental distress, ecological grief, or climate-related psychological distress, per the WHO, may well be a real phenomenon. And its implications extend beyond skipping school to protest. A survey of 10,000 people age 16 to 25 noted 45% said climate anxiety negatively affects “their daily life and functioning.” Another 75% say the future is “frightening.”
In a 2019 Yale study, 1 in 3 responded they were “very worried” about global warming. Others have cited climate change as a reason not to have children. Young people, according to the WHO brief, “report feeling impairing distress and a sense of betrayal and mistrust of government in the face of climate inaction.”
No kidding. After growing up hearing politicians claim climate change is an “existential threat” and doomsday predictions about the world becoming unlivable, of course they’re going to be anxious about the future. They have been betrayed. Not by inaction, but by politicians who love stoking fear and using the climate issue to gain power. The WHO’s analysis conveniently ignores the impact of a relentless focus on devastating, end-of-world scenarios by politicians and media.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/climate-anxiety-is-a-result-of-media-driven-fear-not-government-inaction/ar-AAYeLTE?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=cbf0891f6b244f5a9761e655f253a857
