By Krish Arora
Last winter, my middle-school cousin sent me these photos as her family evacuated their Los Angeles area home, wildfires raging nearby. Her experiences mirror what I felt watching the orange skies in 2020, when over 4 million acres burned across the SF Bay Area.
According to The Lancet, 84 percent of young people 16 to 25-years-old are worried about climate change, with 59 percent extremely worried. Children and young adults will disproportionately suffer the consequences of environmental changes and are simultaneously more vulnerable to the effects of chronic stress. Climate anxiety has become an emerging health crisis, yet there have been inadequate efforts to reduce it.
Progress has been made, especially in Santa Clara. The California Air Emissions Board data shows a 33 percent decrease in vehicle emissions per capita in the county since 2000. Fifty-four out of 58 California counties have seen a per capita decrease. California has decreased its emissions per capita by 20 percent while doubling its GDP per capita, increasing living standards for its residents, while also helping our climate.
Yet Google Trends data for California shows that searches for “climate anxiety” and “climate disaster” dwarf searches for “climate progress.” While California has made tremendous progress reducing emissions, our youth have no idea. Whether it’s news sources embellishing disasters or ignoring progress, young people are drowning in negativity while remarkable achievements go unnoticed.
Santa Clara’s Climate Action Plan has extensive emission reduction strategies, but lacks a framework for addressing climate anxiety. This pattern repeats across Bay Area cities. We need to change this.
The American Psychological Association has identified that “there is still a big need to create additional actionable programs that address climate anxiety and are tailored to young people.” Yet California’s environmental initiatives focus primarily on emissions reduction rather than the psychological support systems its youth desperately need.
What can the city of Santa Clara do? First, acknowledge climate anxiety in their Climate Action Plan as a real health concern, validating young people’s experiences while signaling a commitment to solutions. Second, share regular progress updates through their website and other means to balance the narrative. I’ve made a website showing our progress with interactive maps and charts visualizing the data: https://ecotraffic.vercel.app/. Something like this should be available on the city website with other data-driven optimistic updates.
The data proves we are making significant environmental progress. The Google Trends analysis proves young people aren’t aware. This communication failure creates a generation paralyzed by climate despair that should be empowered through climate optimism.
Santa Clara’s 33 percent reduction in per capita emissions is a real victory. There is still plenty of work to be done. But as we push forward into creating a net-zero future, let’s not forget to ensure we are all conscious of our progress.
Editor’s Note: Krish Arora is a local high school student that made a presentation on this topic at the July 8, 2025 Santa Clara City Council meeting. Arora created this climate action site.
Nothing, not even maps or graphs, relieves anxiety like age appropriate action. Young children might learn about ecology, biodiversity and carbon sequestration through gardening food and native plantings and encouraging others to garden. Older children might learn to fashion opinions of adults through letter writing. Tweens and teens can learn about the sciences of biology, climate change & resilience, ecology, etc., and how to advocate on behalf of themselves, wildlife, bees & pollinators, etc. Perhaps they can learn how to entertain themselves and others without relying on petroleum products. There’s a lot more and we should encourage our youth understand the world as it exists and also help them understand that they can take action to make it better.