If news reports of rising temperatures, melting ice caps or forest fires fill you with dread and anxiety, you aren’t alone. You might be experiencing ‘climate anxiety’, and while it is a relatively new term, it’s on the rise and particularly affects young people. A meeting which you can join in person or online will help you understand the issues and manage your feelings.
The expert panel
Listen to expert talks and join in the Q&A afterwards, from a panel of professional perspectives, including:
Sue Heap
Sue is a climate activist, grandmother, member of the Climate Psychology Alliance and psychotherapist. She will be sharing her own coping strategies and reporting back on "Breaking Boundaries - Planet, Mind & Action", a landmark Royal College of Psychiatry conference, and speaking about the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill (CEE) and its wide reaching impacts on mental health.
Amy Meek
Amy is co-founder of the award-winning plastic waste, youth-led campaign and now global charity, Kids Against Plastic (KAP), which she set up with her sister Ella Meek when they were just 10 and 12 years old. KAP has a bold vision – to empower young people to become agents of change on environmental issues close to their hearts, all while building essential skills and confidences for their futures.
Through her work, Amy has spoken to young people around the world, ministers in all three parliaments in Great Britain, business conferences internationally from Seoul to Barcelona, and diplomats and young people at the UN Headquarters in Geneva. She is also a two-time TEDx speaker, speaking firstly at TEDx Exeter alongside her sister in 2018, and most recently at TEDx Geneva 2021. Amy and her sister have been recognised for their charity with the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award and the Pride of Britain 2021 Green Champion Award.
Amy will be focussing on how we can turn eco-anxiety in young people into tangible action pathways for them: "a lot of eco-anxiety stems from a feeling of helplessness in young people, and so putting the power back in their hands to make a difference is a powerful and effective way that we've found to combat it through our charity (both from my personal experience and the young people that we work with). I'll also touch on the role that all generations can play in helping to combat this issue, and how we can support the young people in our lives to feel equipped and empowered to take action for the planet no matter their age."
Are you an eco-worrier ...?
With the help of psychotherapist Sue Heap, Muswell Hill Sustainability Group have put together an eco-worriers' questionnaire, which they invite you to fill in in advance of the meeting. It's anonymous, suitable for all ages, takes no more than five minutes and will inform the evening.
The facts
- 3/4 of UK adults admit to eco-anxiety
- 2/3 of secondary school children report associated mental health problems
- 4/5 primary school children worry about the effects of climate change
Source: Office of National Statistics survey, 2022)
Join the meeting ...
Book your FREE tickets here to join Muswell Hill Sustainability Group for an evening of information, debate and inspiration, or find it live streamed and available to watch live or after the event on the @mh-sustainability-group YouTube channel.
