Gathered at the foot of the American Congress on Thursday, September 22, young victims of recent climatic disasters urged their elected officials to recognize the effect of the disruption of the planet on their mental health.
In October 2017, Madigan Traversi, a teenager from California, had to flee her home in her pajamas with her mother after smelling smoke.
"
The next day, we learned that our house and our belongings had been reduced to ashes
", by the passage of the "
Tubbs Fire
", one of the biggest fires to have ever ravaged California, she says.
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Today, the 17-year-old high school student says she suffers
from "anxiety, depression and trauma
" -- ailments that many young activists on the front lines of the global fight against climate change say they suffer across the world. world.
Along with a classmate, Madigan Traversi wrote a resolution, presented to the US Congress this year, urging elected officials to take effective action on climate change to "
protect the mental health of today's youth and tomorrow
”.
“
There is an awareness that is happening here
”, and “
the children are largely responsible for
it”, applauded Mike Thompson, the elected representative from California who tabled the resolution in Congress, with from AFP.
Researchers have warned of the particular vulnerability of children and young people, who face a future marked by oppressive heat waves, devastating storms and rising oceans.
“
We are anxious about our future, and rightly so
,” says Giselle Perez, 17, and co-author of this resolution.
"
In 2050, I will be 45
," says the youngster.
And if the United States does not engage more in the climate crisis, "
the future of my generation will be hopeless
", she warns.
