There was a really interesting report released last week which you probably didn't read about because it was produced by the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank that doesn't seem to get much of a go in our mainstream media. But it was worth a read.
The IPA research report, Climate Change Anxiety in Pre-Adolescent Children: A Neuroscientific and Psychological Perspective, revealed "an alarming rise in climate anxiety among pre-adolescent children in Australia".
And it recommended that climate education be delayed until at least secondary school when older students are better able to digest the information before them.
Clare Rowe, educational psychologist and adjunct fellow at the institute, wrote the report and didn't hold back. She examined "the psychological and developmental impact of climate change education on primary school-aged children, arguing that the current approach within the Australian curriculum is cognitively inappropriate and ethically questionable".
The paper didn't take a position on the science of climate change but rather the "developmental appropriateness of introducing such material to young children, particularly when the teaching often leans towards urgency, fear, and catastrophic scenarios rather than a balanced, contextualised view".
"As a clinician, to see children as young as five are experiencing fear, hopelessness and a sense of impending doom related to what they are taught at school about climate change is alarming. Parents need to understand the psychological burden being placed on their children," Ms Rowe said.
"The emotional toll on children is being amplified by the tone and content of educational materials that catastrophises environmental issues and asserts that young children have no future."
Fair enough. Is discussion of climate change as an existential threat really necessary in kindergarten? Whatever happened to colouring in and trying to write your name?
Ms Rowe argues primary schools, firstly, should stick to the basics of literacy and numeracy. And that primary school education should be about instilling hope and a sense of agency in its students.
They should return, she says, to the "basic values of care for one's immediate environment". That old think-globally-act-locally thing.
That means connecting children to nature and giving them an appreciation of the natural world. Teaching children they have a role to play in caring for their surroundings, whether that's a simple as getting them to pick up rubbish or water the plants. They should have an understanding and "gratitude for resources" so they don't take them for granted. Gardening or a visiting a farm could illustrate that. And, above all, primary schools should avoid a doomsday kind of messaging.
"Instead, highlight positive stories of change and innovation. Show children that humans have always found ways to solve problems, and they can too," Ms Rowe wrote.
The other thing she recommends is that mental health professionals in schools should focus on "resilience-building rather than distress validation". Help the kids get out of that hole, don't dig it deeper for them, in other words.
I believe climate anxiety in young people is real. Where it comes from, I'm not sure.
I have had a teen crying on the couch because she's convinced the world is going to run out of water in her lifetime. And that most species of animals will be extinct before she is. No matter how much I try to convince her that won't happen, no matter how many things I Google to put up a defence, no matter if I remind her that Sydney's dams are full, not empty as some predicted, she's not having it.
I, apparently, am not sufficiently worried about climate change because I've "lived my life". I don't have enough skin in the game. I'd like to think I have a few more years left in me, but I get her point. Teenagers are, often, staring into a future that makes them feel more defeated than hopeful.
I'm not sure my teen's eco-anxious state of mind has come from school. More like social media. Even lovely 100-year-old old Sir David Attenborough is a source of climate unease for her. With quotes like "What humans do over the next 50 years will determine the fate of all life on the planet", Sir David is not backwards in coming forwards.
I appreciate my teen's concerns. I do worry about the polar bears. I do worry about why the nights are still so warm in Canberra and it's nearly winter.
But perhaps we should embolden our young children firstly, not frighten them. Give them the tools to cope and adapt and show them they do have some control. And, above all, give them the hope that life is good and worth living.
