While parents, grandparents, and caregivers may experience the mental health impacts of climate change in unique ways, we all love the children in our lives. We want them to experience safety and a sense of well-being. It can be extraordinarily painful to learn about the ways climate change threatens the future we want for our children. We worry about how to talk to our kids about climate change, how to help them navigate their own climate distress, and how to help them cultivate resilience in the face of an uncertain future.

Climate change and other environmental crises are increasingly affecting families’ mental health. Research suggests that women tend to be more worried about climate change than men. And young people, who will be most affected by the climate impacts of the future, are overwhelmingly concerned about climate change: a 2021 study of young people around the world found that 84% were at least moderately worried about climate change, with 59% reporting very or extremely high levels of worry.

More and more of us are directly experiencing climate impacts, which can cause stress, trauma, lingering anxiety and depression, and even heightened suicide risk.

Climate change and mental health is a broad, emergent field. The impacts of climate change on our mental well-being are not distributed evenly. Communities of color and low-income communities are often affected first and worst by climate disasters and bear a disproportionate burden of climate distress.

In 2021, more than 40% of people in the U.S. lived in a county that experienced a climate-related extreme weather event. According to the American Public Health Association, up to 50% of people exposed to an extreme weather disaster are at risk of adverse mental health impacts. As research around climate distress—and climate hope—grows, Moms will continue to be part of the conversation.

We’ve compiled information from trusted sources across the web related to specific topics. These lists were last updated in December 2024 and will be kept up-to-date as more information and science emerges.

1. Navigating climate distress and other eco-emotions

2. Coping with extreme weather and climate disasters

3. Supporting children and youth

4. Cultivating climate hope

5. Preventing and healing from climate burnout

6. Learning more about climate change, disproportionately vulnerable communities, and mental health

7. Where to get help

8. Recursos en español / Resources in Spanish