What do young people really think about climate change?

BBC Ideas investigates the thinking.

Made in partnership with @TheOpenUniversity

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BBC Ideas is a shortform factual video platform from the BBC. It brings together short factual videos from many sources, and organises the videos into playlists by topic.

[ElysetheEevee]

If it makws younger people feel better, many of us 25-40s feel the same way. Some of us have lived through climate change being kept secret, then being called a myth, and now being acknowledged as fact, but no one in power making any real change toward fixing it.

It definitely feels like an issue with authority allowing themselves to be bought out and some older generations now really and truly feeling the dire situation we're running towards. As you get older, you start to inately feel "things haven't changed drastically for me yet, so it'll probably stay the same for the rest of my life, " as human nature. We are already feeling the effects of these changes. In the lower part of the Texas where I live, on the border, people have died due to the outages and storms causes by climate change. We're facing issues with food and farming due to droughts. Those are just a few symptoms that are tangible for some of us.

I'm absolutely with these younger people. It feels hopeless. I think a lot of the older generations kind of figure as well: "I'm not in a position to change anything, so hopefully a few people in the next generation rise to positions where they can create change." Which effectively displaced responsibility. What I've discussed here is just a few of the repeated things I've encountered in my life as a 35-year-old. It's a really tough situation made nearly impossible by corporate countries like the US and polluting countries that don't work with others.

[anarchycoww]

I work with primary school children and from time spent with with my younger cousins, I can say they are all painfully aware of the danger their future faces regarding climate change. It’s a hard subject to talk to with the kids, because (I personally) we don’t want them to develop climate anxiety so young, but the fact of the matter is that they have every reason to be scared; my generation (ages 20-30 +/-) are scared. We are experiencing the effects all over the world now and it’s impossible to ignore.
The largest issue is most media platforms and governments aren’t addressing the reality of climate change, information isn’t being shared and the topic is being manipulated by politics and financial institutions. Anyone who studies geo/ weather/ space sciences will find research that helps us understand what is happening, and by proxy can aid us in preparing for climate change impacts. But due to the political mishandling and influence of tech companies holding so much power over our world, the public are left in the dark.

[numan]

I agree, and all countries need to participate and cooperate in this. First of all, HOOMAN does not yet know how the ocean and the earth are changing, not just in space. However, recent climate change is actually happening in Europe and is also happening in Japan.

[lamourdujourr]

rampant convenience and luxury will destroy this world

[keremh.]

And what about the giant corporations huge impact on global warming, what can I as an individual possibly do to actually slow down the process without the help of our governments and those huge corporations? I bet my impact would be lower than 1% if I willingly go vegan or drastically reduce my water and power usage.