The Climate Change Generation: How Climate Anxiety Affects Young Scientists

By McKenna Sweet, EEC Biology and Journalism & Public Interest Communication ‘25

A setting sun casts a warm glow on an Illinois prairie filled with goldenrods (Image credit: McKenna Sweet).

Millennials are the first generation in which all members were born after climate change was recognized. Subsequent generations will never know a time without climate-affected ecosystems and lives. This reality has led to climate anxiety in both the general public and environmental scientists.

Through three interviews, UW students shed light on how climate anxiety manifests in their lives.

Atmospheric Sciences graduate student Stella Heflin says climate anxiety manifests in both her professional and personal life. She started thinking about climate change at a young age because her father is an environmental policy analyst.

“I feel like I have experienced mental health struggles over the years for a variety of factors, but one of those has definitely been climate anxiety,” Heflin said. “It is really exhausting to grow up and not know what your future is going to look like and be told that it's uncertain and probably bad.”

Katie Holt, a Biology graduate student, studies the foraging ecology of seabirds and recently documented a large heat mortality event in Magellanic penguins. Holt noted that she doesn’t often feel climate anxiety, but when she does, she allows herself to sit in her grief for the environment.

”I definitely have my moments where compartmentalizing fails and I’ll have moments of deep sadness,” Holt said. “And I think those are painful, but I think they’re good to remind myself of what’s happening and what I’m working on.”

One phrase Holt and Heflin have heard from older generations growing up is “it’s up to your generation to save the planet” – which both students agreed is untrue.

”I get really annoyed when people say it's our generation's job because it's really not, and it's [also] not a single generation's job,” Heflin said.

Holt noted the disinformation pushed by large corporations to shift blame onto individuals.

”I feel like especially millennials grew up with this messaging of ‘if you recycle, then you can save the planet,’” Holt said. “And that's just [untrue].”

Zachary Levitan, an Oceanography and Anthropology undergraduate, also described his thoughts on the phrase.

”I guess it’s always up to the youngest generation to fix the problems, but we just keep making a younger generation and then causing more problems,” Levitan said.

Despite the weight of climate anxiety, all three students still hold hope and cope by recognizing they are doing what they can to help combat the climate crisis.

“I remind myself that I can only do so much,” Levitan said. “I can only fight my fight. I don’t know if I’ll be able to change the institutional powers of play, but I can try.”