24-year-old Jem began to lose sleep over the climate emergency. “Over the past two years I have felt a growing anxiety about the state of the environment. It keeps me awake,” says Jem, who works in conservation in Somerset. “I'm worried about what kind of future I should plan for.” Jem says this has contributed to them taking medication for their mental health. “I take anti-depressants, but I don't think that's the solution. Things like antidepressants can't fix things when it's an external problem. It is the world we have created that causes these problems. “Our mental health is so inextricably linked to everything around us that we constantly see in the news. Even if you try to debug it, you won't succeed. It is so out of our control. I know scientific knowledge and harsh reality. You can't take away the anxiety because you know [the climate] is going to get worse.” Jem is one of dozens of young people who have shared their fears about the climate crisis with the Guardian. In a recent survey by the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy (BACP), almost three-quarters (73 %) of young people aged 16 to 24 said the climate crisis had a negative impact on their mental health, compared to 61 % of all people in the UK kingdom. These figures increased from 61 % in 2020 to 55 %.

theguardian