Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Climate change is the single most pressing crisis facing our civilisation and our planet. That is an inescapable fact, and so too are the impacts of climate change that are already taking a damaging toll on the mental health of people everywhere, from heat waves that are increasing suicide rates to floods and wildfires that traumatise the people affected, leaving stress, anxiety and depression in their wake. But an issue I’d like to focus this short debate on is the consequence of how we frame climate change and the ecological crisis, how we talk about it, particularly with children and young people, and the ways in which focusing on devastation alone can lead to despair.

In 2019, I visited a young people's after-school club in Monmouthshire, and as we were talking about different political issues, one very young child said that every time he saw reports about climate change on the news, it made him feel scared. And the others were nodding in agreement—lots of them had felt this same fear. So, we talked about the things that we can do to cope with anxiety, to share our feelings, and we also talked about some of the practical things we can do to tackle climate change—they’d already been working on a project to do with recycling.

But that conversation had a big impact on me, because I think we’ve all become so used to the kind of shocking images that tend to accompany these reports: the upwardly spiralling graphs, facts and figures that flash on the screen, images of drowned villages, devastated crops, animals dying. Now, I would not for a moment wish us to downplay the severity of the crisis that faces us, but rather, I’d argue we should reframe the way we talk about climate change, to focus on giving people a sense of agency in responding to the emergency. Because if we empower people, if we give them tools to be active in the fight against the climate and ecological crises, to contribute to activities at a local level, to enable democratic participation in environmental decision making, and yes, if we ensure children and young people are given a comprehensive education on climate change, we can mitigate the risks I’m setting out.

Why? Well, herein the crux of my argument, the paradox that sits at the centre of this debate: if we don’t take this action, people can be become so worried that they’re less likely to do something about it. That is, if we think of climate change in ways that are overwhelming, we will allow it to overwhelm us. People will either become desensitised to the devastation that they'll put it out of their minds, or they will be left so paralysed by anxiety that they will believe nothing can be done to halt it. Hopelessness can lead to hesitancy, and so a feeling of disempowerment could lead to our worst nightmares being realised.