What Can You Tell a 17 Year Old Who’s Afraid of Dying from Climate Change?

Nothing only that he’s right to be scared and that it’s way too late to change what’s coming. Too many people don’t believe in climate change and too many ultra rich ones keep not giving a shit about it. It’s unavoidable…
- https://mander.xyz/post/3196712 - Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half - Nature Communications
  
  false social reality brought to you by The Merchants of Doubt (aka fossil fuel industry pr firm).
  
  I'm well aware that most people want shit to change and are willing to take the steps to do it.
  None of that fucking matters until we force corporations go change
  
  I suppose you could go that route to reassure. I'm reading this as in "It only seems like most people don't care about the climate".
  You'd probably need to follow up with the numbers in regards to public support of a policy, how our elected officials address those desires of the constituency, and then corresponding policy changes.
  And then, you can play some Carsie Blanton for them.
- You're not wrong but it's also not helpful.
  
  I'll agree with the second half of this statement
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeqAoozVyfQ&ab_channel=GlobalWeirdingwithKatharineHayhoe
  
  Yeah you need to couch it better like. Don't worry buddy. It will be agonizingly slow. Youve got plenty of time.
  
  How about: Start mentally preparing yourself to murder for survival?
- Death itself is unavoidable. Enjoy the ride while you can.

Help them locate resources that are working on solutions.
Energy grid storage news, low emission building, DIY stuff have all been mood savers for me.
At the end of the day, we are all going to die. Our species is going to die. If it's next year because Yellowstone erupts and blots out the sun, or next week because Russia decides to go full MAD, or millions of years from now because interstellar travel lanes collapse...all we can do is the best we can with what's in front of us.
For me, now, that means thinking about what I can do without. It means having a bug out bag to know I can tough out a day or two away from home. It means having emergency plans in place and other options for rolling with the punches. It also means looking out for the others around me and trying to build networks that look out for each other.
I believe the world is falling apart, but I think we have an opportunity to fall gracefully and maybe, if we are lucky, we can pass something on to the future that might grow into something new. The end likely won't be worldwide cataclysm, so imo the best thing to do is to prepare to be mobile in a crisis.
- I wish you were my neighbor

"You had a good run.. ok well you didn't, but you get what you're given."

That they don't owe the world anything. The people and systems around them have basically failed to ensure them a future, and therefore, they do not owe their time to any of these people or systems.
- Those systems failed precisely because people have been told what you suggest here for the last three decades or more.

Tell them that none of the scientists are suggesting they're going to die from climate change, that's coming from laymen repeating stuff with their own flair and farming engagement from them on tiktok.
It's a global emergency and will have negative impacts, but anyone who acts like it's going to turn into mad max in their lifetime is just a doomer.
- A recent review of 180 articles on the human death rate of climate change has settled on a deeply distressing number. Over the next century or so, conservative estimates suggest a billion people could die from climate catastrophes, possibly more.
  The review: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/16/6074
  
  That figure is slightly misleading without context.
  The billion deaths are total premature deaths. It's analogous to the total covid death toll. Have millions of people died due to covid? Yes. Were the deaths uniformly distributed across the world's population? No. The majority of premature covid deaths were concentrated in specific groups of people.
  The climate change death toll is similar. People who are living in already precarious situations will be disproportionately impacted.
  I think lots of people see that billion deaths number and imagine tornados, hurricanes, and heat waves destroying western cities. In reality, it will largely be the sick, young, and elderly in developing nations prematurely dying due to resource scarcity.
  Obviously still a major problem, but the context is necessary to develop effective responses and solutions.

I tell mine that things will get worse before they get better. But we saw with the covid vaccine what can happen when countries and scientists work together. We will start to see more of those kinds of collaborations as it becomes more evident to the richest countries that there really is a problem that is escalating quickly. The current ramp up in forest fires, hurricanes, floods, droughts, etc will provide the impetus for policy makers to start implementing significant changes.
I'm sorry the comments in here mostly suck. It's hard as a parent dealing with climate anxiety in a teen. Don't deny what your teen is observing but give them some hope.
Edit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/06/climate-change-charts-data-optimism/
- Yup. Half the people were happy about the progress of working together for the vaccine. Others were literally calling authoritarian government forcing their way of life.

That he's not going to die. If he knows about the "climate change", he's most likely from one of the countries that will be least affected by it.
People most affected are among those already fighting for survival, and climate change will add up to everything else, resulting in some of them losing that battle
- If he knows about the “climate change”, he’s most likely from one of the countries that will be least affected by it.
  What a ridiculous, baseless, and wilfully ignorant (at very best) assumption to not only make in your own mind, but then post for the world to see...
  
  Countries least directly impacted by climate change = countries most indirectly impacted by climate change
  
  Ok boomer

I apologise profusely as I tell my three 17 year olds the truth.

I’m concerned for that 17 year old, but I’m much more worried for my infant niece.

What did they tell the kids who were raised to duck and cover?
Depending where you are, they'll have to start that one again.

Alright, I’ll give it a go.
Capitalism doesn’t confer meaning into people’s lives. The standards of success in modern society are hallow and only feel good if you believe life itself starts and ends with your individual life. It doesn’t.
Humans will become migratory again, and it will feel good. Our sense of society will fall apart but the pain of that will be short lived. We are part of systems much larger than us and that’s good. We’ve forgotten how it feels to be fully alive. We’ve been side-tracked for a while. It’s been an experience but this experience has grown stale. Time to get back to our human lives. Our specialized jobs take us away from well balanced lives. To live and die is good. Have a meaningful life by living fully.
How’s that?
- It’s very good.

Link doesn't work for me, the captcha just reloads over and over. From the title I'd say, let them know the death won't be sudden, like a car crash or a meteor on the head. It will be a long drawn out process of social decay and collapse, followed by long slow suffering before getting to that point. Plenty of time to suffer before you die. I mean, unless the food wars and mass migrations don't shorten the trip.

Everyone dies. Do the best with what you got.

Fight back. If you are contemplating the fear of death from climate change, then the courage to fight those responsible should seem like a relativity small hill to climb.

"Theres some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."
-- Samwise Gamgee

They should learn about stoicism.
- Careful, I hear the word "stoicism" is considered an alt-right dog whistle now.
  
  On no. Why do they have to ruin everything?

If they live in the United States the odds they'll die by civilian owned firearms are far higher, and much more likely to happen over their lifetime, than climate change

That they’re not going to die from climate change, because they’re not.
- They may die depending on where they live. Regardless "you won't die, but will definitely suffer immensely" is not really helpful

Most everything is overblown for ratings. Have a beer, go get laid, and relax