Duluth high schoolers turn climate anxiety into activism, hope

DULUTH — Not long after twin sisters Mauren and Zoe Pierson helped launch the Climate Club at Ordean Middle School as sixth graders, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Between that and being overwhelmed by the ongoing effects of human-caused climate change and facing an even warmer future as people continue to release greenhouse gas emissions, Mauren and others stepped back.

“When kids, and just people in general, get nervous about climate change, the first thing they do is get paralyzed and stop and not do anything,” said Mauren, now a senior at Duluth East High School. “Because it’s easier to block it out than to take actual action and to do little things to help.”

What Mauren was experiencing — sometimes called “climate anxiety” or “climate grief” — is prevalent among young people.

Nearly 60% of young people reported feeling “very” or “extremely” worried about climate change, according to a 2021 study in The Lancet, which surveyed 10,000 16- to 24-year-olds in 10 countries, including the United States. And more than 45% of respondents said their feelings on climate change “negatively affected their daily life and functioning,” the study reported.

A 2022 study by the University of Minnesota found that nearly three-quarters of Minnesota mental health professionals were concerned about the climate-related mental health effects on their clients, and more than half observed signs already.

Wyatt Buckner / Duluth Media Group

More than one-fifth of providers had even observed evidence of suicidal ideation and attempts connected to climate anxiety, according to the study, which surveyed more than 500 licensed mental health professionals in the state.

But moderate climate anxiety could propel some people into taking action on climate change — participating in social movements or collective action, volunteering, contacting government officials and speaking with others about climate change — which in turn could benefit them, a study last year by Yale and George Mason universities found.

“These findings highlight that many Americans are experiencing psychological distress from climate change, and those who do are more involved in collective climate action,” the study, published in Nature’s npj Climate Action, said. “People experiencing such distress may benefit from resources to support mental health and engagement with climate change.”

For Mauren, channeling that stress into climate action was key after she found herself unwilling to join Climate Club meetings because doing so, she said, would also mean “recognizing that all these big, terrible things are happening.” But last school year, she said she was ready to leave her “little bubble of pretending it’s not happening.”

“Walking into my junior year, realizing that I can’t just keep doing this anymore, and realizing that I want to take action, I think that’s what helped me tear down that wall,” Mauren said.

So, she started the Climate Club at East High School. There, Kate Yapel, also now a senior at East, suggested they work on adding solar to school district property, something the middle school Climate Club first started advocating for as sixth graders.

Today, the solar project is closer than ever to reality.

With strong membership numbers again, the Climate Club’s advocacy extends well beyond school board meetings.

In three consecutive days in late March, members of the Climate Club spoke out at a Duluth City Council meeting against the plan to sell and take private Allete, Minnesota Power’s parent company; rallied in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s laboratory in Duluth; and met at a coffee shop for their weekly meeting. The latter two were before the school day even started.

Yapel said stress about climate change feels like a “looming presence,” but her involvement in the Climate Club has also exposed her to people who are working on addressing climate change and to emerging technologies that could bring potential solutions.

“I can coexist with it,” Yapel said of climate anxiety. “I think it’s always there for me, but it’s something that is more manageable now that I’ve gotten to have the experiences I’ve had.”

Turning to climate action, however, is no silver bullet, especially for those experiencing debilitating levels of stress, nor is it a replacement for mental health care.

Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group

The Yale and George Mason study said 7% of U.S. adults reported “potentially serious levels of psychological distress about climate change.”

“Considering the proportion of people psychologically affected and the current strain on mental health services, there is a pressing need to identify accessible resources and strategies that can support climate adaptation and resilience,” the study said.

The University of Minnesota study said this is lacking statewide.

“Our results demonstrate that (mental health providers) need professional tools and resources to meet the rising demands placed upon them by climate change,” the study concluded.

Still, having a network of support among others working on climate issues can be valuable.

Shawna Weaver, author of “Climate Grief: From Coping to Resilience and Action” and adviser to the Climate Club, said “just being in community” and taking steps in your own life, like composting or taking a bike instead of a car, can help, however inconsequential that may feel.

“The consequence actually is really deep and reverberating, because we’re retraining our brain to be geared toward community and toward our own values,” Weaver said. “And when we strengthen our own values, then good habits feel automatic.”

Whether it’s related to climate change or some other issue, individual actions can spread throughout a community, Weaver said, pointing to the thousands of people who have joined protests since President Donald Trump took office for his second term.

Mauren and Yapel said there’s a lot of negativity among their peers when discussing climate change, but there are bright spots, too.

About 75% of the Climate Club members are planning to study environmental science in college, including Mauren and Yapel, who are both planning to major in environmental science, management and policy at the University of Minnesota next year.

In the meantime, Yapel said she and the Climate Club will continue to encourage peers to engage in climate work and join them at rallies.

After all, it’s also about joining that community Weaver described.

“You’re going into a huge support system … and don’t be discouraged by the impact you alone have,” Yapel said she would tell people on the fence about engaging in climate work. “Be motivated that your influence on other people, overall, is going to be really prosperous.”