Episode 91: Can We Teach Climate Change Without Overwhelming Young People?

Episode 91:
Can We Teach Climate Change Without Overwhelming Young People?

Guest: Jessica Newberry Le Vay

Hosted by: Marina Robb

Jessica Newberry Le Vay

Jessica Newberry Le Vay is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford and part of Climate Cares - a global initiative working to understand and respond to the links between climate change, mental health and wellbeing, based at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.

Jessica leads the Compass Project, a research programme exploring the integration of climate change education with mental health and wellbeing to better empower young people to live, work and thrive in a changing climate.

Before joining Oxford, Jessica worked at Imperial College London as a Climate Change and Health Policy Fellow with Climate Cares, and previously led Cancer Research UK's policy research programme on cancer prevention.

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In this episode ...

In this episode I’m speaking with Jessica Newberry Le Vay, Senior Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, and part of Climate Cares - a global initiative based at Oxford and Imperial College London, working to understand and respond to the links between climate change, mental health and wellbeing.

Jessica leads the Compass Project, a research programme exploring how climate change education can be integrated with mental health and wellbeing, so that young people are better supported to live, work and thrive in a changing climate. Before joining Oxford, Jessica worked at Imperial College London as a Climate Change and Health Policy Fellow with Climate Cares, and previously led Cancer Research UK’s policy research programme on cancer prevention.

In this episode:

Jessica describes climate change and mental health as two deeply connected crises, because how we feel shapes how we respond.
The conversation centres on the Compass Project, which looks at how students and educators experience climate education and climate emotions.
Jessica shares that many young people feel anxiety, fear, anger, grief, hopelessness or betrayal in response to climate breakdown.
She highlights research showing that 59% of young people surveyed globally were very or extremely worried about climate change.
More than 45% of those young people said their climate feelings were affecting daily life, including sleep, eating, school and relationships.
Jessica explains that climate anxiety is often a rational, healthy and caring response, rather than something to simply remove or fix.
Marina and Jessica explore how unspoken emotions can affect mental health, especially when young people do not feel able to share what they are carrying.
Teachers are also experiencing climate worry, while often feeling under-resourced, under-trained and unsure how to hold these conversations.
The episode explores the need to help young people hold fear and hope together, rather than avoiding difficult truths.
Jessica discusses how misinformation, social media and stigma can make it harder for young people to talk openly about climate change and action.
The conversation questions whether climate education can ever be politically neutral, especially when climate impacts are shaped by injustice, power and systems.

Music by Geoff Robb: www.geoffrobb.com

Links and Resources

The Compass Project / Compass report:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/climate-cares/our-work/projects/compass/

Additional links:
https://theconversation.com/why-emotional-resilience-should-be-at-the-heart-of-climate-change-education-275610
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/climate-cares/

Caroline Hickman’s international climate anxiety survey:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext

Jessica refers to a large-scale survey of 10,000 young people aged 16–25 around the world, which found that 59% were very or extremely worried about climate change, and more than 45% said these feelings negatively affected daily life.

Another Way research
https://another-way.org.uk/what-happened-to-the-youth-climate-movement-we-did-the-research/

Jessica mentions research by an organisation called Another Way, which found that around 60% of young people in UK secondary schools had experienced a negative reaction from peers because of involvement in climate action initiatives.

A “Goldilocks zone” paper on climate anxiety:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364661325003158
Jessica refers to a recent paper framing climate anxiety as a “Goldilocks zone,” where too much anxiety can become overwhelming and paralysing, while too little can lead to disengagement.

A paper by Linda Dunlop and Elizabeth Rushton
https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3816
Jessica mentions a “brilliant paper” by Linda Dunlop and Elizabeth Rushton exploring the depoliticisation of climate change and the expectations of neutrality placed on teachers.