Z-topia: Gen Z perspectives on mental health in a changing climate

Climate change poses significant mental health risks for young people, with literature suggesting mental ill-health in the current generation of young people could rise as the climate crisis evolves, necessitating the need for both continued research and action. Drawing on our perspectives as Generation Z lived experience researchers - grounded in clinical practice, intersectional youth mental health advocacy, global health, and community development, we reflect on the dual pressures young people face - praised for their ambition and burdened with the responsibility of addressing these problems, while simultaneously denied the power to meaningfully enact their devised solutions.Informed by emerging literature and our lived experience, we propose a Generation Z utopia ('Z-topia'), our conceptual vision of what young people can and should be empowered to achieve, through the intersections between imagination, reflection and decisive action. In Z-topia, climate-related distress is recognised not as individual pathology, but as a collective, emotional and rational response to ecological crisis. Z-topia imagines young people empowered to design and lead transformative climate action, embedding climate action into everyday life and fostering a reciprocal relationship between people and the planet. This vision reframes youth climate distress as a foundation for agency and social change, offering a pathway towards more inclusive, sustainable, and mentally healthy futures.