In the WTFutures corpus, health emerges as a subject interconnected with the impacts of climate change, but it is also a concern on its own – in part due to recent history which has produced a profound effect on young persons (COVID 19). Numerous narratives mention health issues and imagine how they could evolve in the future. Mental health, above all, is a subject that is very important for young people and that has emerged throughout the whole corpus.
A subject interconnected with climate change
In 18 out of 54 projects, health appears to be a major topic, although not necessarily linked to climate change. The students behind the Museum of the Not-Yet-Possible foresee major progress in the years to come: healthier lifestyles, medical innovations, smart health, etc..
In Message Towards the Region or Générations F, pandemics are also occurring as an echo of COVID-19 that greatly impacted young people at a time when they were still growing up. In Museo del Futuro, health systems are reimagined with a great emphasis on how to better help populations in need, with the intent to reflect about the fight against climate change and for social justice together.
In Climate Futures in Mali, the participants discussed the direct links between climate change and health problems, like heat waves dysregulating women’s periods and worsening the bleeding. The heat stress there is directly affecting their bodies today and thus, legitimately, raises concerns for the future.
In Kijiji Cha Amani, many links are also made between climate change, deforestation, emission of pollutants and issues of hunger and global health of the community.
A special place for mental health
According to the World Health Organization, “One in seven adolescents has a mental health condition. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people globally. [And] today, climate change, conflict, poverty, inequality and displacement are intensifying risks.1” The “mental health” crisis among young people in many parts of the world is well-documented by research and international organizations. It has also found its way into several WTFutures projects. In Message Towards the Region, young participants want to dedicate special spaces to take care of mental health. The teenagers and young adults in Future Is Now describes how, the digitization of society worsened the sense of loss of purpose and loneliness of youth, creating or deepening mental health issues
As this project shows, climate change is not the only cause of this crisis, perhaps not even the main one. It is, however, important enough to become the main focus of projects of Éco-Motion and The Eco-Anxiety Africa Project. Both projects try to help young people navigate their different emotions of fear, guilt, discouragement, anger, sadness related to climate change. Éco-Motion specifically helps young activists overcome the obstacles they encounter in their actions, some of which clearly impact their mental health. TEAP began by acknowledging the feeling of burnout by Nigerian climate activists, and extended towards all youths by recognizing that the prevalence of eco-emotions (66% of Young Nigerians, according to an initial survey), along with the lack of spaces or opportunities to express them, could lead to trauma, depression and sometimes suicide.
An additional difficulty comes from the fact that there is still a stigma around mental health in many communities, and that mental health issues related to climate change are still not easily understood by mental health professionals. These two issues were among the factors that brought together 23 young activists from all across the world to write Not About Us Without Us. According to them, young people from all around the world are experiencing a wide range of deep eco-emotion, some of which affects their mental health and their daily lives. They are in need of support to deal with these issues while also challenging what being “mentally healthy” could mean.
However, the same authors also warn their readers not to consider all eco-emotions as pathological:
“Mental health professionals must actively challenge the notion that the absence of uncomfortable feelings about the current state of the world (such as worry, sadness and frustration) is necessarily a sign of ‘good mental health’ and that the presence of these feelings suggests the presence of a ‘disorder’. Indeed, the absence of strong feelings in response to upsetting global issues is more often a cause for psychotherapeutic concern than their presence”
Not About Us Without Us
→ An entire “Theme” is focused on the topic of eco-emotions in the WHAT section of WTFutures: Emotions.
Chiara Servili, “Children and young people’s mental health: the case for action”, World Health Organization, June 2025