Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

Climate Courage campaign ​

​

What does it really mean to help young people adapt to a climate-disrupted world?

↓

Why we’re talking about “adaptation” – and why we need your stories

These are real questions children have asked about climate change. Imagine you're a teacher, asked this in front of a class of 30. Perhaps you are. How do you respond?

When we launched the Climate Courage campaign, we focused on a question that is too often sidelined in discussions about climate education and curriculums:

What does climate change actually feel like, for young people growing up today? And how can teachers speak about the realities of the future while acknowledging these feelings?

We spoke to teachers without the training, resources or time to respond when children ask such questions. To mental health professionals tired of repeating that climate distress isn’t a pathology, it’s a sane response to an unfolding crisis, and one they’re seeing more and more of. To parents who simply don’t know how to answer their children’s questions about what lies ahead.

Overwhelm is everywhere. Support isn’t.

We’ve always said education needs to take the emotional impact of climate change seriously. But this is a hard message to get through when:

1. Climate education barely exists to start with
2. Youth mental health is at rock bottom

Inequality, technological upheaval, ecological collapse — young people are living it all while being told to stay positive and plan for an undefined future.

Of course, climate isn’t just one part of this picture. It’s woven through all of it.

That’s why we’re now talking about adaptation. Helping students adapt isn’t optional — it’s a duty of care. We’re failing young people if we don’t equip them with the skills they need to navigate a destabilised world.

Now, the Department for Education has said its goal is to equip young people to “adapt and thrive in the world and workplace of the future”.

By focusing on adaptation, we are looking to hold them to account. What does that future actually look like? And how are we helping students prepare for it — emotionally, practically, imaginatively?

What we mean by adaptation

We’re not just talking about adding in a few more modules or facts. And we don’t mean learning about flood barriers or emergency drills.

We’re talking about the skills and capacities young people need to live well in a world of change — emotionally, socially, practically, and imaginatively. Because adaptation isn’t about loss. It’s also about rethinking how we live, work, and learn, with creativity, care, and courage.

Adaptation, to us, means:

• Being honest about what’s changing — and what that might mean for their futures
• Creating space to ask questions, feel fear, and find purpose
• Learning to process difficult truths with compassion and creativity
• Teaching practical skills for living differently: from collaboration and repair, to systems thinking and emotional regulation
• Fostering connection — to nature, to each other, and to a sense of shared purpose

At its heart, this is about helping young people and their teachers to build the practical, emotional and cognitive skills they need to meet the future. It means creating education that reflects reality — and helps people meet it with care, courage and clarity. It also supports deeper climate learning: not just the science, but what it means for lives, livelihoods, and communities.

That means making space not just for fear or anxiety, but for grief — for ways of life or futures that may no longer be possible. And for hope, grounded in action, connection, and possibility — not passive optimism or despair.

Teachers also need space and support, both emotionally and professionally. They can’t guide others through uncertainty unless they are resourced to navigate it themselves.

This has always been at the heart of our campaign. But framing it this way opens up space for a bigger conversation, one that connects mental health with systems change, and lays the foundations for lasting transformation: in schools, in communities, and across society.

And it starts with listening: to young people, and to those working alongside them.

Why stories matter

We all know this matters. But to build a movement, we need evidence and stories. We need yours!

We’re collecting testimonials from teachers, parents, mental health professionals and young people — about what it’s like to face an uncertain future without support. About the mental health toll of ignoring the reality young people are already living in. About what happens when a school does make space for truth and care, and how different that can feel.

Here’s one story we received from a teacher:

If that story resonates with you — in any way — we want to hear from you. Your voice can help make the case for why our education system needs to change.

As you're the first of many people that will fill out this survey, please let us know if you think we can improve the form in any way by replying to this email!

What you can do

• ​Submit a testimonial. Your voice matters — whether you're a teacher, student, parent, climate scientist, counsellor, or concerned citizen. You can remain anonymous if you prefer.
• Forward this newsletter. Especially to anyone working in education or mental health.
• Ask the young people in your life what they think the future looks like and what they wish their school was doing to help.

What we're reading

• This ​new research​ from UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability on the barriers headteachers face in prioritising climate and sustainability education — and why system-wide change is needed.
• ​This study​ on socioeconomic disparities in climate emotions, knowledge, and action among young people in England — and why emotionally responsive, action-oriented teaching matters.
• This new paper on why today's "bolt-on" climate education – often siloed in science or social studies – doesn't work, and what needs to change.
• ​This essay​ by CMP co-director Rupert Read on how resilient communities can help us survive the “chaoscene”.
• ​Watch this ​powerful film​ about climate anxiety in schools and why we should be concerned.

Also, some of you might like to submit evidence to the DfE’s call for research and evidence relating to NPQ teacher training/CPD (deadline Friday 16 May). ​Find out more here (pdf)​.

I’ll be back in touch next month with more on what to expect from this campaign – and an invitation to the campaign's launch (it's online, on June 25, at 1630pm BST. Pencil it in!)

V best,
Josephine

​