Climate Change and Youth: Turning Grief and Anxiety into Activism

by Linda Goldman

Overview

Climate Change and Youth is a pioneering book that opens the door to understanding the profound impact climate change has on the mental health of today's young people.

Chapters provide age-appropriate language for a meaningful dialogue and resources for acknowledging children's voices, separating fact from fiction about environmental issues, encouraging participation in activism, creating tools to reduce stress, and highlighting inspirational role models and organizations for action. The book includes firsthand examples, research, children's work, interviews, and terminology. It also shares age-appropriate resources and websites relating to climate change and challenges.

Filling a large void in the literature on this topic, this essential resource offers techniques and tools that professionals and caring adults can use to address the stresses associated with climate change and offer strategies for hope, resilience, and action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367494537
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/11/2022
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Linda Goldman has been a teacher and guidance counselor in the public school and grief therapist for over thirty years. She is the author of several books, including Life and Loss: A Guide to Help Grieving Children Classic Edition and Raising Our Children to Be Resilient: A Guide to Helping Children Cope with Trauma in Today's World. Linda is presently serving on the advisory board of TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

Table of Contents

Part One: The Challenge: Mental Health Perspectives, Climate Change, Grief, and Loss 1. Climate Change and Mental Health: Laying a Foundation of Understanding 2. Childhood Losses in the 21st Century 3. The Coronavirus and Climate Change Part Two: Raising Awareness: Conversation, Activities, Practices 4. The Conversation: Creating Hope and Action through Dialogue 5. Environmental Activities for Young People for Counselors and Educators 6. Mindfulness and Meditation: Stress Reduction, Yoga, School Gardens, Nature; Part Three: The Goal: Transformation for a Healthy Planet 7. Globally Inspired Projects: Parachutes for the Planet, Friday for the Future, Earth Day Strike, Global Youth Strike, Climate Live, Global Coordination 8. Youth Activists for the Environment 9. Families Activities to Support a Healthy Planet Part Four: Change: Environmental Justice, Nature Deprivation, Climate Action, Resources 10. Environmental Justice and Young People 11. Someone is Listening and Acting . . . 12. Resources for Professionals, Parents, and Children on Climate Change, Global Warming, Nature, and Expressing Feelings

Editorial Reviews

"Linda Goldman offers wise intentional and practical ways to enlist and empower children, parents, and teachers and influencers to awaken the world's consciousness, to ring the fire bell in the night. I fear that unless Linda Goldman's work becomes widely read and implemented, a future generation will demand of me and millions of my contemporaries: 'And what did you do to alleviate climate change?' Goldman offers a blueprint for our imaginations and her ideas will inspire the imaginations and creativities of many." -- Harold Ivan Smith, DMin, FT, author of ABCs of Healthy Grieving

"The mess we've made of the earth is causing existential anxiety for today's youth, ignited by record-breaking fires, floods, and the covid-19 pandemic, and other disturbing environmental realities. This book could not be timelier. Jump in and join the youth and organizations working hard to make a difference." -- Donna Schuurman, EdD, FT, senior director of advocacy and training at the Dougy Center: The National Grief Center for Children and Families

"In this newest book, Linda Goldman applies her years of expertise in the field of grief and loss to the struggles faced by today's youth. Goldman uses case studies and practical techniques to help us help today's young people process grief and loss and begin to cope with the anxiety and depression. I am confident that this will be a great resource to help us move to action and hope." -- Emilio Parga, MeD, founder of the Solace Tree Center for Grieving Children

"This book shows that climate change awareness is not just about sharing concerns about the future--it is about taking action, particularly by living more sustainably, eating less meat, the four R's, and, most importantly, demanding better climate laws from our local politicians." -- Barton Rubenstein, cofounder of the Mother Earth Project and Parachutes for the Planet

"Goldman expertly interweaves her erudite knowledge of the impact of grief and loss in children with the modern world's current global warming crisis. In this volume, the existential dread that we see in our youth from the impending environmental disasters going on all around us is balanced with expressive, familial, and community-based projects toward inner healing for both individuals and Mother Nature herself. A groundbreaking, timely, much-needed book to help us help our youth become actionable, mindful, and respectful of the planet we must protect in a symbiosis to ultimately protect humanity." -- Eric J. Green, PhD, author of The Handbook of Jungian Play Therapy

From the Publisher