Supportive educators can aid young people in channelling negative emotions about climate change in healthy, adaptive ways. However, globally only a small minority (13 percent) of young people in school have been asked to consider their feelings about climate change and most teachers lack training and confidence to deliver climate change education. The first portion of this chapter provides an overview of climate change education and explores young people’s climate distress in educational settings, with an emphasis on institutional betrayal. The second portion presents case studies and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted with four leading practitioners whose approaches to climate change education acknowledge and support the mental health implications for young people. Finally, themes identified from thematic analysis of the interviews are presented, and key insights for good practice in climate change education are provided.

Young people are increasingly impacted by the effects of the climate crisis, which are causing significant mental health harms. They are aware that government policies and decision-making have furthered reliance on fossil fuels, even in the face of the known dangers of climate change. To protect their human rights and future well-being, young people are turning to courts to hold their governments accountable for protecting their rights to a life-sustaining climate. Some courts around the world are granting young people access to seek remedies, while in other places, including the United States, such access is still denied. While access to justice is vital, young people have yet to see courts use the best available climate science as the basis for defining and protecting their rights. This article explores the obstacles young people face today in seeking and obtaining legal remedies, identifies human rights that are implicated by the climate crisis, and discusses why access to courts is a crucial aspect of the quest for a legally binding, science-based legal remedy for climate change that protects the rights of young people.