Repairing the Bond: Why Intergenerational Relationships Are Central to Climate Resilience

This piece draws on an article originally published in The Psychologist (British Psychological Society) on 14 October 2025.

As a physics undergraduate in my early twenties, I experienced first-hand what it feels like to be taught climate truth without care. In the course of one atmospheric physics tutorial, my sense of the future was drastically altered — and then we simply moved on to the next topic, business as usual. I was reeling.

Later, as a science teacher, I tried to bring age-appropriate climate truth and care into my classroom. But I was lucky if I found one spare period for it. It wasn't enough. Education needs to up its game to meet this existential challenge. This is at the heart of why ClimatEdPsych exists.

The challenge facing young people

Young people will bear the brunt of climate impacts over their lifetimes. They also carry the weight of watching adults repeatedly fall short on safeguarding their futures — a sense of betrayal that researchers call 'moral injury.' Many of us, as adults, struggle to keep pace with the speed of change, whether that's the climate itself, AI, or the shifting concerns of the young people in our care. Even when we make an effort individually, the systems we work within are often slow and inflexible.

This can create real intergenerational strain — anger, blame, difficult conversations at the dinner table. Left unaddressed, we risk a genuine rift between generations at exactly the moment we most need to be working together.

Why the relationship matters so much

When young people feel supported and understood by older generations, they're more likely to develop a sense of agency and hope. When these relationships are strained, they're more likely to feel isolated and powerless. Healthy intergenerational attachment is, quite simply, foundational to resilience.

Collaborative action between generations does two things at once: it combines the strengths and resources of both, and it shows young people that adults are actively stepping up — rather than leaving the problem to them to solve alone. This is the emotional 'containment' that underpins good mental health, and as psychologists and educators, part of our job is caring for the caregivers who provide it.

What this looks like in practice

In my work with schools, several things reliably make a difference:

• Creating genuinely safe spaces for dialogue — non-judgemental, empathetic conversations where young people and adults can voice concern, anger, and hope alike, using approaches like active listening and emotion coaching.

• Shared projects, not separate ones — tree planting, community clean-ups, sustainability projects that put generations to work side by side rather than young people acting alone.

• Mentorship that flows both ways — pairing young people with experienced adults to share knowledge and build confidence and agency.

• Adults doing their own emotional work first — it's difficult to hold space for a young person's climate distress if you haven't processed your own.

• Naming the injustice honestly — young people often feel, rightly, that they're inheriting consequences they didn't create. Acknowledging this directly builds trust rather than eroding it.

• Climate education that's genuinely inclusive — accessible to all young people, not just those already engaged, and involving educators and families as co-learners rather than instructors.

Above all: just show up, keep an open mind, and start talking. You can only get it wrong by doing nothing.