Young People’s Perspectives on Climate Change in Urban Brazil

Irene Rizzini () and Mariana Menezes Neumann ()
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Irene Rizzini: The International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI/PUC-Rio), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro 22245-120, Brazil
Mariana Menezes Neumann: The International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI/PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro 22245-120, Brazil

Challenges, 2025, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: The climate crisis poses profound risks to present and future generations. Nonetheless, the perspectives of children and young people internationally, and more specifically in Brazil, remain underexplored. Based on a multi-discipline literature review on climate anxiety and nature (dis)connectedness, the hypothesis is that the effects and symptoms of increasing (dis)connection with natural environments have short-, medium-, and long-term consequences. Access to natural spaces is a vital response to counteract the negative impacts of climate change. This article discusses findings from a study conducted in urban Brazil with 200 young people aged 12 to 18 years old, with the aim of addressing three research questions from ten questions that comprised the complete survey. The major research questions were as follows: 1. ‘Climate change worries me’: How do you relate to this statement? 2. How does climate change affect you?, and 3. Do you think some young people are more affected by climate change than others? The results show that young people care about and are preoccupied with climate change, especially when they reflect on their futures and the future generations. Although young participants are deeply concerned about climate change and feel its effects them personally in the form of anxiety, fear, and insecurity, they often lack clear pathways for contributing to broader environmental efforts beyond individual actions. These findings highlight an urgent need to foster community-based approaches and enhance education and resources for enlarging and improving youth engagement, especially to rethink the everyday strategies addressing these challenges, and to foster new paradigms of interaction with the natural world based on (re)connection with natural spaces. The correlation between climate anxiety and nature (dis)connection offers an approach that is still little explored, especially concerning children and young people.

Keywords: climate change; climate anxiety; nature connectedness; young people; Brazil; children; adolescents; climate emotions; climate education; survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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