MEMO: How Nature Can Take on the Youth Mental Health Crisis

*** Senior Sierra Club policy staff and spokespeople are available to discuss the critical need for investing in urban green space programs. ***

For nearly two years, children and youth have seen their family, social, and educational lives disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has cut young people off from their support networks, and rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, and loneliness in our youth are soaring, according to mental health professionals. In December 2021, Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy declared that we had entered a “youth mental health crisis.”

With its scientifically proven benefits to physical and mental health, one solution to this national crisis is to encourage youth access to nature and the outdoors. Multiple studies demonstrate nature can help relieve depression and anxiety in youth, and even help heal their traumas, with positive effects on physical and mental health, boosting concentration, improving social skills and even helping kids perform better in school. 

In the recently passed FY 2022 budget, Congress signalled support for programs that expand youth access to nature, but we must do more. With our young people never more in need of the benefits of nature, Sierra Club is calling on Congress to invest critical support in programs that expand youth access to the outdoors and nature.

YOUTH ARE IN CRISIS

Youth in the United States faced mental health issues before the start of the pandemic, but COVID-19 has had clear negative effects on the mental health of young people.

• Prior to the pandemic, mental health challenges were the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people in the US, with up to 20% of children aged 3 to 17 having a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. 

• Recent research suggests depressive and anxiety symptoms doubled among youth worldwide during the pandemic, with 25% experiencing depressive symptoms and 20% experiencing anxiety symptoms.

• Some negative emotions or behaviors such as impulsivity and irritability, which can be associated with conditions such as ADHD, appear to have moderately increased.

• In early 2021, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent girls and 4% higher for adolescent boys compared to 2019. 

• Meanwhile, there is evidence that connections with nature are associated with increases in happiness, subjective well-being, positive affect, positive social interactions, and a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as decreases in mental distress.

EQUAL BENEFITS, UNEQUAL ACCESS:

While the benefits of spending time in nature are universal, access to the outdoors and nature is not equally shared. In many places across the country, access divides along race and class lines.

• 100 million Americans, including 28 million children, don’t live within 10 minutes of a high-quality park or green space.

• Public transit to public lands is often limited or nonexistent, putting many parks and public lands out of reach for families without cars.

• Without sufficient funding, many parks are unable to build the infrastructure necessary to make them accessible to the disabled community.

HOW WE CAN INCREASE ACCESS

Congress included explicit support for the Every Kid Outdoors program in the FY 2022 federal budget, but we must do more to expand access to the outdoors for children, youth, and families.

• $25 million for the Every Kid Outdoors program to ensure all fourth graders and their families, regardless of race, income, or ability can access public lands and waters. 

• Increase equitable access to the outdoors for all children, youth and families by passing the Outdoors for All and Parks, Jobs, and Equity Acts.

• Invest in our nation’s recovery from COVID-19 by establishing a 21st Century Civilian Climate Corps to put a new generation of Americans to work conserving and restoring public lands and waters. 

• Cut red tape on permits to explore the outdoors by passing the Simplifying Outdoor Access for Recreation (SOAR) and Environmental Justice in Recreational Permitting Act.

Additional Resources

• American Psychological Association: Nurtured by nature

• Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory

• Sierra Club: Our Youth Are in Crisis — They Need the Outdoors