Coping with Climate: Climate Ambition and Mental Health

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie

ChangeWarrior Tribe

Aryaveer Bhargava, Modern School, Delhi

Alexander Israel, Chennai Public School, Chennai

Ayan Hooda, Christ Church School, Mumbai

Divij Butte, Pawar Public School, Mumbai

Jiana Lakdawala, The Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai

Kapish Sharma, Bliss International School, Pune

Pawani Mishra, Maharishi Patanjali Vidya Mandir, Prayagraj

Ritwik Mallavarapu, Gear Innovative Intl. School, Bangalore

Sabarigirish Manikandan, BVM Global Bollineni Hillside, Chennai

Shlok Narvekar, Khar Education Society, Mumbai

Siya Maisheri 

Daksh Aggarwal

Project Focus: UN SDG 11, 13, 3

Inspiration:

Feeling anxious about the state of the planet is a perfectly normal human experience. The problems come when the anxiety begins to negatively impact your physical health, mental health, and overall well-being. During interactions with high school students, we learned how most of them were feeling helpless or that they were doing “too little” for the planet. This opened us up to how climate change also affects the mental health of young people. Although climate change impacts communities on a global scale, the first step to reducing the carbon footprint emissions and other effects on health and mental health is to spread awareness. By spreading awareness through collective action, our Climate Warriors decided to empower the students.

The problem at hand:

The lack of consideration for the environment by the Indian people, and the inaction by the masses is quite alarming with regards to climate change. On the other hand, media manipulation on the topic has created a new form of anxiety – eco-anxiety, and it is very important to assist people suffering from it, and reassure them with the idea of hope. Climate Anxiety is the chronic fear of environmental disaster that comes from irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for one’s future and that of next generations. A research conducted in 2021 with 10, 000 children and young people aged 16-25 years across ten countries including India, showed that 75% of young people think the future is frightening and 45% say climate concern negatively impacts their day (Hickman C, et.al, 2021). This concerning data made us understand the need to have a discourse about this topic, with our young Climate Warriors.

“I have been interested in the environment since a young child. Since I learned about Climate Change and its drastic impacts, I have been increasingly concerned about the Environment. Inquiring about Climate Change raises a feeling of anxiousness within me and so this agenda gave me an opportunity to realize and make myself aware of “Eco-anxiety” and how Climate Change also indirectly impacts individuals and communities.” – Kapish Sharma

Team-storming to Action Plan

Here’s how the project panned out through a series of steps:

1) Guest Session: The Climate Warriors got acquainted with concepts related to climate change and mental health through a session by Mr Navaneet Yadav, the founder of DOERS, which is a humanitarian organization working towards resilience and sustainability in the Himalayan region of India. The session made them understand about eco-anxiety and the impact of climate change on individuals and societies. 

2) Preparing for the Fieldwork: They made a mock presentation for the fieldwork which was prepared for the presentation, and they decided on each other’s roles and solved the obstacles that they faced as a team. 

3) Fieldwork: For the fieldwork the Climate Warriors collaborated with PratyEk and spread awareness about the impacts of climate change on mental health in a virtual meet on Zoom, to around 25 children. They explained about climate change and its impact on health, specifically mental health, and encouraged them to follow habits which are more eco-friendly and engaged them in an activity about differentiating harmful actions and beneficial actions towards nature. By spreading awareness through collective action, they attempted to inculcate habits in others which contribute in sustainable efforts towards a greener future.

4) Reflection Session: After the workshop, the Climate Warriors collectively expressed

their feelings and their takeaways from the previous sessions. They reflected upon the sessions and  answered some interesting questions. They also compiled a report of all the activities, documenting our experiences and thoughts.

5) Comic Strips: In order to make learning about these heavy concepts more fun and interactive, the Climate Warriors created comic strips which showcased daily events in which people were affected by climate change and how those obstacles are solved by them. 

Identified Constraints:

The Climate Warriors faced various challenges and obstacles throughout the project and learned how to overcome these barriers.

• Novel Topic – Most of the team was aware of climate change, but was relatively uninformed about the anxiety part. The ‘Climate Change and Mental Health’ workshop by Mr. Navneet Yadav was a game-changer for this – they came to know about climate anxiety in great depth.

• Language Fluency – A few team members weren’t completely fluent in Hindi, or in transitioning from English to Hindi fluidly. However, the mock session helped the team out greatly and prepared us to engage with the children from Jashn Kids better.

• Online Mode of Communication – Since the workshop was organised via an online meeting, there were some unfortunate technical issues that arose. There was also the gradual loss of interest in the audience due to the online aspect. We tried to mitigate this by incorporating activities and real-life scenarios in our presentation and maintaining a cheery and active tone throughout the session.

Project Impact:

The project was definitely a resounding success. Not only did the Climate Warriors team manage to break down a complex topic into simple, easy-to-digest parts for the audience, but they also managed to hold the attention of students throughout the session. The workshop enabled the students to spread awareness about climate anxiety and spread the message of hope, optimism and a bright future if they pledge to care for the environment and fight against climate change. The comic strip also allowed them to engage with a wider audience and the humorous and eye-catching style will definitely impart our message effectively to the reader.

The project has also had a very positive effect on our Climate Warriors. They felt satisfied after educating about 30 children about an important issue in today’s world, and improved skills like communication, coordination, teamwork and presentation skills while working on the sessions. They certainly found it to be an exciting and fulfilling  experience to truly cherish.

The Global Challenges and Social Justice Program by TribesforGOOD deals with many cutting-edge themes and global issues. Hundreds of ChangeWarriors have made a positive impact in their community and built their profile through the program. They have gathered new skills, networked with industry experts and other ChangeWarriors, and found solutions to real world problems, all in a few weeks!

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