Can We Teach Climate Change Without Overwhelming Young People?

About this episode

The episode discusses the intersection of climate change education and mental health, featuring insights from researcher Jessica Newberry Le Vay.

Today I’m speaking with Jessica Newberry Le Vay, Senior Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, and part of Climate Cares - a global initiative based at Oxford and Imperial College London, working to understand and respond to the links between climate change, mental health and wellbeing. Jessica leads the Compass Project, a research programme exploring how climate change education can be integrated with mental health and wellbeing, so that young people are better supported to live, work and thrive in a changing climate. Before joining Oxford, Jessica worked at Imperial College London as a Climate Change and Health Policy Fellow with Climate Cares, and previously led Cancer Research UK’s policy research programme on cancer prevention. In this episode: Jessica describes climate change and mental health as two deeply connected crises, because how we feel shapes how we respond. The conversation centres on the Compass Project, which looks at how students and educators experience climate education and climate emotions. Jessica shares that many young people feel anxiety, fear, anger, grief, hopelessness or betrayal in response to climate breakdown. She…

People in this episode

Host: The Outdoor Teacher

Guest: Jessica Newberry Le Vay

Topics covered

• climate change
• mental health
• education
• youth anxiety
• wellbeing
• research

Keywords

• climate change
• mental health
• youth anxiety
• education
• Compass Project
• climate emotions
• wellbeing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, Climate Cares, Imperial College London, Cancer Research UK

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