Grassroots Movements Explained

A responsibility for children’s climate anxieties

The challenge of Environmental Justice is also within our condensed cities, as children feel the effects of climate with “high levels of worry, fear, despair, sorrow, grief, depression, and existential anxiety.”26. Those who live in high-density areas in low-income situations have the potential to feel disconnected from nature as it is not accessible27. Newly settled children can be affected as well while watching disasters from homelands or leaving homes affected by wildfires.

There is a risk of using the term anxiety, as it is “medicalizing valid and appropriate responses to these crises…talk of climate grief situates action for change on the griever and on internal healing to help them feel better, rather than on collective responses to address the structures and systems that perpetuate climate destruction”26 This disconnect to the land is rooted in groups like the Brownies, as “These practices of uniforms, badges, hierarchies, and domestic duties for girls set up colonial habits in our young girl imaginations” while embracing the true connection to the land was stigmatized as “wild Indians”28.

Along with natural play, we can create opportunities for children to have real relationships with the environment by “(A) enabling the formulation of research questions; (B) creating and refining project design; (C) conducting scientific experiments; (D) collecting and analysing data; (E) interpreting the results of data; (F) developing technologies and applications; (G) making discoveries; and (H) solving problems”, which are expected to increase self-confidence, develop interpersonal skills, and environmental stewardship 29.

1. Mercer, J. (2022) Children and Climate Anxiety: An Ecofeminist Practical Theological Perspective. This article belongs to the Special Issue Practical Theology Amid Environmental Crises. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/302
2. UBC Climate Hub [UBC Climate Hub] (2021, May 11). Nature, Mental Health, and Climate Action. [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEkIkCAuNHc
3. Farrell, A. Skyhar, C. Lam, M. (2022) Teaching in the Anthropocene: Education in the Face of Environmental Crisis. Canadian Scholars. (Chapter 4). https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=605-EAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA44&dq=madness+in+children+and+eco-justice&ots=a0YuFAV3OS&sig=x1j6sLBGJJtJcmWMieWbbxApe-c#v=onepage&q&f=false

Makuch, K. Aczel, M. (2019). Eco-Citizen Science for Social Good: Promoting Child Well-Being, Environmental Justice, and Inclusion. Sage Journals. Volume 30, Issue 2. https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.lib.torontomu.ca/doi/10.1177/1049731519890404