Anxious Youth

Most of the climate change protesters were about the same age as my grandchildren, so it was painful to see the anxiety in their eyes and hear the distress in their voices as they spoke despairingly about the future. One young woman carried a sign saying, “You’ll die of old age, we will die of climate change.” Another placard warned “There is no planet B.” Tearful teenagers declared their resolve to remain childless rather than bring children into what they believe is a dying world.

Protests like this in many parts of the world make it clear that climate-induced anxiety is a real problem, especially among our young people. In Sept 2020 Lancet (https://www.thelancet.com/) published an article entitled Climate anxiety in young people: a call to action, in which the authors state:

Symptoms associated with climate anxiety include panic attacks, insomnia, and obsessive thinking. Feelings of climate distress might also compound other daily stressors to negatively affect overall mental health, potentially leading to increases in stress-related problems such as substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. (Judy Wu* Gaelen Snell* Hasina Samji*)

Later they add:

Additionally, chronic stress during youth might result in permanent alterations in brain structure and the emergence of psychopathologies later in life.

Now, most Christian parents and grandparents are not environmental experts who can speak authoritatively about melting polar ice caps, but they do have this assurance of Jesus: the God who made the universe will bring it to an end at a predetermined time and manner (Matt 24:35, 36; 2 Pet 3:10). We may not know what to think about CO2 levels, but we can encourage our children to be ready always for Jesus’ return (1 Th 4:16-18), confident that if we are faithful “when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 Jn 3:2). Yes, we live in a decaying universe (Rom 8:18ff) but along with Peter “we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13).

Psa 56:3 “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.”

Rex