Why are we teaching kids scarcity in an age of abundance?

Students head back to classrooms this month. Many will arrive already convinced their future is hopeless.

In a Lancet Planetary Health study of 10,000 young people across 10 countries, 75% said the future is frightening and 56% said they believe humanity is doomed.

We are graduating energy-illiterate students at precisely the moment the country has to build.

A 2025 PNAS study found one in five Americans ages 16 to 24 is afraid to have children because of the climate. That gloom has deepened over time. In Yale’s long-running survey, the share of Americans 18 to 34 who say global warming is already harming this country rose from 40% in 2012 to 64% in 2022.

What’s causing such a dramatic shift? It could be what’s missing in the classroom.

Teenagers name