NY State Senate Science & Strategies legislative briefing and press conference
- Suzanne Davino
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
On March 25, Dr. Davino joined with colleagues from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America (CPA-NA), Climate Psychiatry Alliance (CPA), and a youth climate advocacy group called Start:Empowerment to present a legislative briefing and press conference in Albany. The briefing was hosted by State Senator Peter Harckham and New York Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg. The psychology experts presented emerging research on the effects of climate change on mental health outcomes, and encouraged legislators to commit to bold climate action in response to the increasingly evident public health emergency caused by anthropogenic climate change and extreme weather events.
Climate change impacts mental health through four main pathways:
Direct acute exposure to natural disasters or extreme weather events
Direct chronic exposure to declining environmental conditions
Indirect or vicarious exposure to climate change emergency events, such as through news or social media
Anticipation of future events, based on direct or vicarious experiences in the past
According to a large-scale cross-sectional study by Lewandowski et al. (2024) published in Lancet Planet Health, 57.9% of 16-25 year olds in the U.S. indicate being “very worried” or “extremely worried” about climate change, with 38.3% indicating “that their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily life.”
After Dr. Davino and colleagues presented these findings to New York legislators, youth activists from Start:Empowerment, who represent vulnerable populations, shared their stories. Isabella Ramos, a Junior in high school and third-year member of Start:Empowerment’s Youth Program, described the visible ways climate change impacts her community and peers in the Bronx, and the rewarding work she’s done to take care of her local environment. “It’s made me want to do more – not just for the planet, but because it makes me sad to know about all the issues and know about how climate change affects us.”
You can watch the full press conference here:
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