Abby Rafeek, a 14-year-old high school student from Gardena, California, says decision-makers aren’t doing enough to address climate change. “I think if we figure out how to live on Mars and explore the deep sea, we could definitely figure out how to live here in a healthy environment,” she says. (Jenna Schoenefeld for KFF Health News)
By Bernard J. Wolfson, Kaiser Family Foundation Health News, Image: Jenna Schoenfeld for KFF Health News, January 9, 2025
We’ve all read the stories and seen the images: The life-threatening heat waves. The wildfires of unprecedented ferocity. The record-breaking storms washing away entire neighborhoods. The melting glaciers, the rising sea levels, the coastal flooding.
As California wildfires stretch into the colder months and hurricane survivors sort through the ruins left by floodwaters, let’s talk about an underreported victim of climate change: the emotional well-being of young people.
A nascent but growing body of research shows that a large proportion of adolescents and young adults, in the United States and abroad, feel anxious and worried about the impact of an unstable climate in their lives today and in the future.
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