From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Reaping what our education system sowed.

As climate changes, climate anxiety rises in youth

BY DAVID SCHECHTER, HALEY RUSH, CHANCE HORNER
MARCH 2, 2023 / 9:00 AM / CBS NEWS

Kids often worry about much different things than their parents do. One of the big ones is climate change. Research shows most youth are “extremely worried” about it, leading to a phenomenon called climate anxiety. Kids and young adults who struggle with this can perceive they have no future or that humanity is doomed.  

“We see that a lot of young people are saying, I think my life will be worse than my parents’ lives,” said Dr. Sarah Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Suffolk University in Boston. 

A study published last year collected attitudes about climate change from 10,000 people across the world, aged 16-25. 

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“So, they know that the world is going to get to be a harder, darker, scarier place,” said Schwartz. “And imagining themselves in that world feels really scary for them.”   

…Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-anxiety/

Of course the kids don’t just sit there feeling frightened. Brainwashing the kids with climate fear is likely also leading to self destructive behaviours, like drug abuse.

The following is testimony from Dr. Alex Wodak, a high profile Australian expert on drug rehabilitation, to a New South Wales Ice abuse inquiry in 2019.

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First, the threshold step is redefining drugs as primarily a health and social issue rather than primarily a law enforcement issue. Second, drug treatment has to be expanded and improved until it reaches the same level as other health services. Third, all penalties for personal drug use and possession have to be scrapped.

Fourth, as much of the drug market as possible has to be regulated while recognising that part of the drug market is already regulated, such a methadone treatment, needle and syringe programs, medically supervised injecting centres. It will, of course, never be possible to regulate the entire drug market. We have regulated parts of the drug market before. Edible opium was taxed and regulated in Australia until 1906 and in the United States Coca-Cola contained cocaine until 1903.

Fifth, efforts to reduce the demand for powerful psychoactive drugs in Australia have had limited benefit and require a new focus. Unless and until young Australians feel optimistic about their future, demand for drugs will remain strong. Young people, understandably, want more certainty about their future prospects, including climate, education, jobs and housing affordability. Change will be slow and incremental, like all social policy reform.

As Herb Stein, as adviser to President Nixon said:
Things that cannot go on forever don’t.

Drug prohibition cannot go on forever and will be replaced by libertarian paternalism. Thank you.

…Source: Wayback Machine

One day this period of our school system will be regarded with horror by historians, who will look back on this period as we look back on other evil periods in history when indoctrination displaced education.

Future historians will wonder, will struggle to understand how so many of the teachers of our time could bring themselves to stand in classrooms day after day spreading misery and fear, crushing the hope and optimism from the hearts of the children in their care with relentless climate brainwashing, while somehow deluding themselves into thinking they are serving the best interests of the kids.