photo credit: Greg Rakozy

By Kalyahn Varanasi, 11th Grade, Boulder CO

As you may have read in a previous EmpowerGEN article; Gen Z: Rising Up for Climate Action and a Sustainable Future  “Many Gen Zers have lost faith in our ability to solve problems as a nation – leading them to believe that humanity is doomed and there is really nothing they can do about it.” I used to feel like that, but after hearing about what people are doing, collective action (referenced in the previous article,) I have learned how to address this problem.

We Are Not Doomed Yet.

When I was a young kid, climate change scared me. I remember being around 7 when my dad was talking about it with my mom. I don’t remember exactly what he was saying but it was about the destruction global warming could cause, and I honestly felt like the world was going to end before I turned 30. I was crying at that point, and then I asked him to stop talking about it, and he did, but he started whispering so I couldn’t hear him, but when I came back in the room I heard him and started crying again, and whined: “you said you would stop talking about it.” Another time when I was around 9 or 10 my swim coach was talking about it. He was talking with another coach or maybe an older swimmer, and he said something along the lines of Yeah if we don’t fully shift to electric cars in the next ten years the world is going to end (which is not true). I was older, so I didn’t cry, but I was hot with anxiety and I again felt like the world was going to end before I turned 30. My climate anxiety did not stop until I learned that society can reverse it, and how possible it was to reverse it.

As climate change becomes a more pressing issue in our society today, climate anxiety increases along with it. Climate change can be a tough topic for kids. I am Kalyahn Varanasi, a junior at Fairview High School, and I’ve found a way to address climate anxiety for children around elementary school age.

According to Yale scientist Sarah Lowe’s research, climate anxiety can be explained as “distress about climate change and its impacts on the landscape and human existence.” Lowe claims that the best way to combat climate anxiety is through collective action, that is feeling connected to other people with the same goals.

Parents! – Your Kids Are the Answer

Aligned with this research, I’ve thought of a way to help kids overcome climate anxiety. If your children participate in a summer camp, where they learn about climate change and the way it’s being stopped, and create their ideas of how they can help, it will increase their confidence and make them feel like climate change is solvable. 

I’ve been working with Heidi Cuppari from Dream Tank to make this camp a reality. Currently, I have been learning about how to help kids reduce their climate anxiety and adding some of my own experience to that to create an educational yet exciting camp for youth. Through spreading awareness to these kids, and letting them think about their solutions to climate change, their climate anxiety can be reduced before these changes even happen. 

Stay tuned for this opportunity! My next article will have more details about the curriculum, and if you are interested in helping out with the project, there will be applications opening soon.

Parents: 

Do you think your child could benefit from this program? If so, I encourage you to have a conversation with them and see if they would like to join the fun this summer.

Please fill out this google form together with your child so we have a good idea of how many kids might want to come and try to make the curriculum the best it can be.

In conclusion, this opportunity can increase confidence for your child and help them overcome any challenges they face.

____________________________________________________________________________

Direct links to references:

https://sustainability.yale.edu/explainers/yale-experts-explain-climate-anxiety 

https://aboutboulder.com/blog/turning-the-tide-boulders-call-to-support-a-young-environmental-visionary/ 

https://aboutboulder.com/blog/mental-health-tv-network-live-segment-empowering-youth-how-young-people-can-change-the-world/ 

https://aboutboulder.com/blog/gen-z-rising-up-for-climate-action-and-a-sustainable-future/

Heidi Cuppari

Heidi Cuppari, a graduate of Brown University, is a pioneering figure in the fields of sustainable financing, impact investing, youth entrepreneurship, and women's leadership. Having moved to Boulder in 2006, she has spent nearly two decades contributing to the growth and development of the impact investing and social entrepreneurship community in the city.

With a personal life as vibrant as her professional one, Heidi is a devoted mother and an integral part of a close-knit family. She started a family legacy art gallery and celebration space called Cuppari Mondo Bello, in collaboration with her children and her father, the acclaimed Italian artist Pasquale Cuppari. This venture was initiated to uplift her father during the challenging times of COVID-19, and it has since morphed into an avenue for social impact through the amplification of consciousness-evoking art.

In her career and volunteer activities, Heidi strives to align global social impact with collective action. As the founder of Island17 and Dream Tank, and as a council member of The Digital Economist, she continually advances her mission of fostering a healed planet and peaceful world. She recently co-created the Playa Puertecito Collaborative, an initiative aimed at building a sustainable community on the Sea of Cortez. Her work emphasizes the power of collective impact and highlights the importance of giving a voice to the younger generation in shaping our shared future.

Heidi's Empowerment Coaching and Mentoring sessions demonstrate her ability to blend traditional life coaching support with loving, innovative, and relationship-based models.

https://www.teensandparentsontrack.com

https://heidicuppari.net