Kids Today Are Justifiably Anxious. Ignoring It Won’t Help.
Keeping climate change out of the classroom doesn’t make it go away.
Already anxious.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
If you were on a cruise ship and learned it was sinking, your emotional response would probably be anxiety. The best way to relieve that anxiety would be to acknowledge the danger and proceed to the nearest lifeboat. The worst response would be to plug your ears, go “Lalala I can’t hear you” over the captain’s warnings and head to the lido deck for a dip in the pool.
This may seem obvious. But the Trump administration’s approach to relieving anxiety about the increasingly chaotic climate appears to be of the “Lalala I can’t hear you” variety. It will only make our climate problem, and the anxiety it engenders, much worse.