Alyssa-Leigh Alcantara sits at a table in Maricopa, Arizona, fundraising for the Youth Climate Action Team’s climate education division, Dec. 17, 2022. Alcantara is the director of climate extracurricular education with YCAT. Photo courtesy of Alyssa-Leigh Alcantara
Samir Chowdhury, founder and chairman of the Youth Climate Action Team, an international organization dedicated to climate justice, steps into the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. He’s a middle-schooler from Washington, D.C., but much of his extended family lives here in this densely populated city.
Chowdhury looks up and the sky is gray. It’s not the kind of gray one sees on a gloomy winter day, rather it’s the kind of gray one sees when pollution puts a city in a chokehold, devouring its fresh air.
At this point, Chowdhury has learned about climate change. He has seen its effects firsthand. The Bay of Bengal swallowed his family’s farms — their livelihoods.
“It was a very grounding moment,” Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury said he lost a “childhood innocence” that day when he stepped into a smog-filled Dhaka. While he didn’t know it then, that moment would inspire Chowdhury to found YCAT in 2021.
Chowdhury deeply relates to the term climate anxiety, described as “negative cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses associated with concerns about climate change,” according to the National Library of Medicine. He said turning to activism helped relieve his anxiety.
“The more I’m involved in climate work, climate activism, the less my climate anxiety impacts me,” Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury is now a junior at Stanford University studying management science and engineering.
Chowdhury’s work with YCAT continues to impact young people.
When 16-year-old Hibah Abdellatif, who is also a member of YCAT, thought of climate change, the first word that came to mind was leadership.
People who engage in climate activism experience decreased levels of anxiety, according to a 2020 study on the psychological responses to climate change. Among six youth climate activists with YCAT, five said advocating for climate justice decreased their climate anxiety.
“This [activism] kind of gives people a sense of empowerment and control over a situation, thus decreasing their climate anxiety,” said Tanvi Modugula, 15 year-old Operations Director of YCAT.
Modugula said she joined YCAT to be a part of the change that would bring climate justice. She said she used to have climate anxiety, but not since joining YCAT.
“That [joining YCAT] decreased my climate anxiety because I feel like I have an opportunity to create change and help people create change as well,” Modugula said.
Aditya Subramanya, 15, said he feels he’s making a difference as YCAT’s podcast editor.
“I feel like I’m doing something and that really means a lot to me,” Subramanya said. “So it’s gotten rid of a lot of my climate anxiety.
Abdellatif said climate anxiety wasn’t something she struggled with before joining YCAT. Rather, she felt a curiosity about climate change. Even so, Abdellatif said knowing there are people taking action toward climate justice offers her comfort.
“I get more nervous in certain situations where I’m not fully aware of what’s happening,” Abdellatif said.
Data suggests climate activism decreases climate anxiety. A Current Psychology article from 2022 offers quantitative support through analyses of survey data to other qualitative articles about managing climate anxiety with collective action.
“Engaging in collective action may combat feelings of despair and helplessness and foster feelings of hope,” according to the article’s research.
A 2023 article from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication stated participating in climate action can help relieve climate anxiety for youth and increase feelings of hopefulness about the state of the climate.
Abdellatif said finding reputable sources on climate change can help people decrease one’s climate anxiety. She said it’s important to find a source that shares just the facts.
“It’s crucial, especially for those who are wanting to get more involved with advocating for climate change, to make sure that you are confident in where you’re getting your information from and that you’re not doubting whether or not this might be perhaps exaggerated or undermined,” Abdellatif said.
In opposition to research and testimonials of his peers, Marco Casteñada, 20 year-old member of YCAT, said learning more about the climate has made him more anxious. In particular, he said there is more the government can do to reverse the effects of climate change.
Casteñada agreed with the idea that ignorance is bliss. Even so, he encourages people struggling with climate anxiety to tell their community to do more.
“If the higher-ups aren’t forcing it to happen, you can have a hand in helping others realize that they need to help change,” Casteñada said.
Marco Casteñada, right, keeps a park clean by picking up trash. Casteñada said learning more about climate change has increased his climate anxiety. Photo courtesy of Marco Casteñada
Alyssa-Leigh Alcantara, 17-year-old director of climate extracurricular education with YCAT, said the news often reports negatively on climate change. She doesn’t hear about those fighting for climate justice.
“Working in advocacy and climate, environmentalism and stuff like that, it’s helped me realize that there are people who are fighting for change and that it is possible,” Alcantara said.
To those struggling with climate anxiety, Alcantara said to first learn about climate change and then make a difference.
“Doing those park cleanups, they’re really small, but they make you feel like you’re part of something bigger,” Alcantara said.
Tatiana Hlinka, 16 year-old YCAT finance director, found activism as a way to cope with her climate anxiety. Before YCAT, she joined the Environmental Society at her school. The society created an action plan to do a waste cleanup in their home state of New Jersey.
“When we came together as a group, it [the anxiety] was better,” Hlinka said.
Tatiana Hlinka stands by a pond as a part of a cleanup initiative. Hlinka has written an article in Vogue about climate change titled “Poison.” Photo courtesy of Tatiana Hlinka
Subramanya said working with others has been a highlight of his experience with YCAT.
“It’s so much fun to work with other people towards a common cause that you all believe in and it just connects you,” Subramanya said.
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Contact Millie Auchard via email: millie.auchard@pepperdine.edu
