How Is Climate Change Affecting Our Mental Health?

Positives

• The podcast includes a variety of perspectives from experts, activists, and ordinary people around the world.
• Some students may have their own experience with climate-related mental health issues and this podcast may help them feel seen and validated.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• This episode discusses suicide, PTSD, anxiety, and depression. These are sensitive topics and teachers should use care and intentionality when incorporating these into the classroom.
• Before listening to this podcast, students should have a solid understanding of climate change and its connection to extreme weather events like heat waves, droughts, floods, and storms.

Differentiation

• This is a great resource for social-emotional learning and can help open a conversation about mental health, anxiety, depression, and stress.
• After listening to the podcast, students can journal about their emotions and experiences with climate change and if comfortable share their thoughts with a peer or the class.
• The lessons Sharing Your Climate Story and Healthy Environment, Health You are great resources to help with any writing activity or assignment.
• Students can draw inspiration from the activists highlighted in the podcast to brainstorm ways to address climate-related mental health concerns in their school or community.
• Students can write letters to their local or national policymakers to push for more mental health support in their community or country.
• Other helpful resources include this podcast on climate anxiety, this video about the emotions associated with climate change, and this youtube video about coping with climate anxiety.