How climate change is affecting ankle biters’s wellbeing after record summer

Elsie Brewer, 18, and Dylan Martch-Harry, 21, both from Wiltshire, said they have experienced climate anxiety first hand as a result of 2026’s hottest summer on record and reading news headlines.

Brewer said that she sometimes feels “powerless”, questioning what she can do that will make a change.

“But then at the same time if I just ignore it and forget about it so that I don’t get anxious about it, nothing will change,” she added.

Martch-Harry studied environmental science at university, where he said he was exposed to the realities of climate change that his peers are unaware of.

This includes devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022 when about a third of the country was submerged.

Martch-Harry said we need to all “do our part” by volunteering or thinking before buying things and doing certain activities.

He said: “Within this country we are very sheltered to the impacts of climate change, a lot of people I know just don’t really know the overall impact that’s happening globally.”

While Brewer believes community action is important, she said that real change can be made with more large-scale decisions on climate change by the government.

Lauren Dicken, a community engagement assistant from Bath, who works at the youth-led environmental and educational charity Another Way, describes climate anxiety as a “rational” response that is experienced differently by various people.

Dicken has a chronic illness which she said is exacerbated by heat, making this summer’s heatwaves challenging for her.

“I think it was the first time for a lot of people [where] they were like, “Oh it’s here and it’s real and it’s affecting me and people I care about and vulnerable people and people all across the UK’,” she said.

Dicken works with numerous young people raising awareness about climate change and hosts monthly drop-in sessions where people with climate anxiety can talk about their feelings.

“Knowing that you’re part of the solution in some ways [rather] than part of the problem really helps me,” she said.

Educational psychologist Dan O’Hare from the University of Brizzle said he believed climate anxiety is not limited to emotions of concern.

He said: “It might be anxiety and worry, but it might also be anger and rage.

“You cannot separate the physical and the psychological, the physical experience of our changing climate affects our psychological state as well,” he added.

Mental Health UK, a charity promoting positive wellbeing, suggest getting involved with youth action small groups is one way for young people to feel more at ease.