India, Feb. 12 -- People no longer think of climate anxiety as a strange mental health issue. It's a social event that can be measured. A 2021 Lancet Planetary Health study in ten countries found that almost 60 per cent of young people were "very worried" about climate change. More than 45 per cent said it made their daily lives harder. Similar trends are observed in India, especially among urban youth who are subjected to elevated temperatures, air pollution, and climate-related media. But treating eco-anxiety as just a mental health issue hides a bigger question about political economics: who makes it happen, who makes it worse, and who pays for it in the end? The answers are not easy to find or morally right.

Climate risk and distribu...