Children are worried about climate change. Environmental education aims to increase knowledge and pro-environmental behavior but typically gives little attention to meeting children's emotional needs. This is particularly important as direct and indirect impacts of climate change, including the Australian bushfires in 2019-20, become more salient. This study explored caretaker perceptions of children's climate change emotions, and the needs and challenges around supporting children, through an online survey of Australian parents and teachers (n ¼ 141). Parents and teachers similarly reported that children experience anxiety and express interest in talking about climate change. They described challenges that inhibit their ability to talk to the children, whilst also identifying positive experiences of doing so. We conclude that parents and teachers would benefit from resources to help them support their children's environmental learning in a way that fosters emotional wellbeing and promotes hopefulness. We suggest principles that acknowledge feelings, emphasize solutions, and encourage action.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.