A friend of mine just had a baby and I sat across from her. She spent the weekend doom scrolling through social media posts. She told me that she was terrified about the world she brought her child into. Is this the only person freaked out?
I didn't know what to say to her to make her feel better, but I knew she was not alone. A study by the Yale Program on Climate Communications shows that 71 percent of Americans think global warming will harm future generations. Over the past year, searches for climate anxiety have increased dramatically.
There are many books, videos, Facebook groups, and in-person events to help people come to terms with the future, compared to a few years ago, when talking about your eco anxiety might have been met with blank stares. Some of the best resources to help parents deal with their climate fears can be found here.
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Tools for cultivating resilience, taking action, and practicing hope in the face of climate change were written by Elizabeth Bechard.
Every time a parent tells me they are struggling with climate anxiety, I recommend this book. The book was written to be a gentle bridge for parents. It does a good job of acknowledging the paralyzing fear and uncertainty of the future while offering powerful research-backed practices to help people become more resilient. She described her experience with eco distress while caring for small children. Anyone who has been through the same thing will find themselves nodding along.
Coming of Age at the End of Our World was written by Daniel Sherrell.
Warmth steers clear of the sometimes hard-to-read science and data of climate change and sticks to the emotions in a letter written to an unborn child. Sherrell is a climate activist who is grappling with the decision of whether to have a child, and his anguish and uncertainty comes through on every page, along with vivid and concrete fears for the future. Sherrell said that he tried to figure out how to live and keep taking steps forward on a tightrope between optimism and despair. He succeeded at that, and the result is a book that reads like a long conversation with a very thoughtful friend.
Mary DeMocker wrote The Parents' Guide to Climate Revolution.
The first sentence of the book is Relax. DeMocker promises that she won't overwhelm you with another thing to add to your already full to-do list. DeMocker told me that she encourages parents to adopt a parenting style of empowerment and listening and believing young people's feelings, instead of just trying to do or say the perfect thing. DeMocker gives a well-researched, creative, and inspiring list of ways you can fight for your kid's future, for parents who are eager to spring into action but don't want to waste time on futile lightbulb-changing tasks. The book is more focused on action and less on emotional processing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't leave that part out. The section called "Care For Your Soul" will be helpful for anyone who is grieving in the climate.
