Across North America, climate change is disrupting a generation's mental health

  1. News Clippings
  2. Across North America, climate change is disrupting a generation's mental health

By David McKie, Declan Keogh, Charlie Buckley & Robert Cribb, National Observer, December 2, 2020

The anxiety that routinely bears down on MacKenzie Harris is rooted in a powerful and increasingly common fear plaguing this generation of young people: climate distress.

“Anxiety for me is when I’m sitting doing my schoolwork and feeling like it is useless because I might not have a future to work towards," says the University of Guelph graduate student who also heads up a group called Climate Justice Guelph.

“Your heart races. Your vision can blur. Your throat gets caught. And you get very flushed and you just can’t focus on what you’re doing because it doesn’t feel productive.”

Anxiety for me is when I’m sitting doing my schoolwork and feeling like it is useless because I might not have a future to work towards.

Climate change-induced angst among youth is helping fuel growing youth mental health instability across North America, according to a cross-border investigation involving more than 70 journalists, academics and students at 10 universities and three media outlets across Canada and the U.S., including Canada’s National Observer, the Toronto Star and NBC News.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/12/02/eco-anxiety-youth-mental-health-climate-change?utm_source=National+Observer&utm_campaign=e50d194bb1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_12_02_02_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cacd0f141f-e50d194bb1-277003849

Latest posts

Auditor slams City of Ottawa officials over handling of Barrhaven housing development

By Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen, November 24, 2023

The City of Ottawa’s auditor general has slammed municipal officials for mishandling a major housing development in Barrhaven that involved extensive alterations of the Jock River floodplain to accommodate a sprawling new subdivision with nearly 1,000 new homes.

Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon has released a scathing, 14-page report detailing her team’s investigation into the project after allegations of mismanagement were made through the city’s fraud and waste hotline. The report has been tabled for discussion at the city’s audit committee meeting on Monday.

...The plan involved cutting away more than 100,000 cubic metres of soil along the north shore of the Jock and depositing more than 400,000 cubic metres of soil on adjacent land immediately to the north so houses could be safely built there, beyond any flood risk.

Find the whole article here.

Ottawa city council asks province to reinstate nine-storey building heights on minor corridors

By Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen, November 25, 2023

In a head-spinning move that has angered some community groups, Ottawa is asking the province to reverse its decision to override the city’s official plan on building heights.

A motion, approved by council this week in a 19-2 vote, instructs city officials to ask Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra to reinstate rules allowing higher buildings heights along minor road corridors. It’s something the city’s planning committee rejected two years ago, when it approved Ottawa’s new official plan.

Pellerin: Speak up for the glorious, badly under-used, Rideau Canal

By Brigitte Pellerin, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed, November 24, 2023

The City of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission and Parks Canada are launching a consultation on the Rideau Canal, and they want our opinions.

What they hope we do is complete a survey, attend a virtual meeting, visit a pop-up kiosk at Landsowne Christmas Market on Nov. 25 and send our comments. I’m going to skip right to the last step.

...Around here, we only think of roads for commuting. Everything else — even a lovely gem like the Canal — is for recreational purposes. It’s a failure of imagination that deprives everyone, residents and visitors alike, of truly magnificent public spaces in the nation’s capital.

Find the whole article here.

More — News Clippings
Email:
Phone: 613 860 5353
Address:
123 Slater St, Floor 6
Ottawa, ON K1P 5H2