‘A planet full of ifs’: Young people express climate angst

A group of young protestors chant slogans and carry signs during a global climate rally at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, part of a wave of protests around the world. Many young climate activists say they feel hopeless and overwhelmed _ and psychologists say that’s OK and it’s good they’re talking about it. It’s sometimes called climate change anxiety and you don’t have to be an activist or young to feel it. (AP Photo/David Swanson)

NEW YORK — Around climate-change protests, tears linger. Youthful activists cite all-too depressing science and develop angst. They grieve for a future they worry they’ll never have.

Many young climate activists say they feel hopeless and overwhelmed. Psychologists say that’s OK — and say it’s good they’re talking about it.

It’s called climate change anxiety. And you don’t have to be an activist or young to feel it.

Jamie Margolin, a 17-year-old activist from Seattle, talks about growing up on a planet full of ifs, while 18-year-old activist Kaylah Brathwaite says she may have to be scared the rest of her life.

Being young is emotional to begin with. Add to that a world where each scientific report — like one that came out Wednesday — seems gloomier than the one before.

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press