CLIMATE CONCERNS

THANK you Chloe McCann for your research into the mental health impacts of climate change. As a doctor, I value robust evidence. However, I can already see that of course the young people are worried – this is a normal and empathetic response to the crisis we find ourselves in. The one where one in five deaths are attributable to climate change already, and where women, Indigenous people, elderly and those in the Global South are most affected. There are plenty of worried grown-ups too – doctors, parents and climate scientists are all raising their voices. We need urgent emissions reduction to make us feel less worried. Not clever fudging of reaching emissions targets, and not even pledges, but actual and urgently limiting fossil fuels.

Kate Bendall

West Hobart