Two-Thirds of Americans Suffering From Climate-Induced Anxiety

By Catherine Clifford, CNBC

Grief and anxiety over climate change drove this 30-year-old to write a letter to his future child. Last year, the American Psychiatric Association reported that about two-thirds of Americans (67%) are somewhat or extremely anxious about the impact of climate change on the planet, and 55% have similar levels of anxiety about their own mental health. Against this backdrop, CNBC is publishing a series of accounts of how climate watchers, leaders and empaths are facing the emotional toll of climate change and finding a way through their anxiety.

The first in this series comes from Daniel Sherrell, the author of “Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World.” Sherrell, 30, is a climate movement political organizer and is currently the Campaign Director for the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, where he’s working to combat climate change and reverse income inequality by creating union clean energy jobs. He wrote “Warmth” as a correspondence to a potential future child.