Message from the Founder
When I first began this work, there was no master plan, no strategic framework, and no formal initiative. There was only a feeling. A quiet, persistent feeling that something important was missing from the way we were talking about climate change, especially with young people.
I remember sitting in classrooms where climate change was discussed in scientific terms. We saw maps of rising sea levels, graphs of carbon emissions, and projections about the future. But what was never discussed was how any of it made us feel. There was no space to talk about the fear, the grief, the guilt, or the deep sense of helplessness that often settled in our bodies long after the lesson had ended.
I noticed the same silence in other places too, in after-school clubs, in community programs, even at home. Young people were absorbing the weight of a crisis they did not create, but they were rarely given tools to carry that weight in healthy or sustainable ways. The result was a growing sense of emotional isolation, especially among youth in rural and Indigenous communities who were already facing other forms of systemic exclusion.
Green Mind began as a response to that silence. It began with a belief that emotions are not distractions from environmental action. They are part of it. They are the beginning of care, of awareness, of healing, and of change.
From the very start, our goal has been simple: to make sure no young person feels alone in their climate anxiety. What started as one conversation became a community. What began as one toolkit became a national initiative. Today, Green Mind is led by youth across Canada who are transforming grief into action, fear into connection, and care into leadership.
This work is rooted in lived experience. I grew up in a rural community where access to mental health services was limited, where climate education felt disconnected from daily life, and where being a young person who cared deeply about the earth sometimes felt like a lonely road. But I also grew up surrounded by stories, stories from my grandmothers, who were both educators and community advocates. They taught me that hope is not a feeling, it is a choice. It is something we build together, through care, persistence, and imagination.
Green Mind exists because I believe in that hope. I believe in young people who are asking difficult questions, holding heavy truths, and searching for ways to move forward with courage and compassion. I believe in communities who are willing to learn together and heal together. I believe in Indigenous knowledge and land-based practices that show us how to care for one another and for the earth with deep respect.
I also know that climate anxiety does not affect everyone in the same way. For some youth, it is layered on top of other forms of loss, loss of home, loss of culture, loss of safety, or loss of trust in systems that were never built for them. That is why our work must be intersectional. It must be led by those who live at the margins. It must be rooted in justice, not charity. It must be flexible enough to reflect many truths and strong enough to hold many kinds of grief.
Everything we create from workshops and story circles to toolkits and videos begins with the same question: what is weighing on your heart? We do not start with answers. We start with care. We hold space for all the emotions that come with loving a world that is changing. We create room for joy and play, as well as for sorrow and uncertainty. We honour the emotional truth of each person who walks through our doors, whether physical or virtual.
To every young person reading this: you do not need to have all the answers. You do not need to feel okay all the time. You are allowed to feel overwhelmed. You are allowed to rest. Your emotions are not a weakness. They are a sign that you care, and that care is powerful.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for feeling deeply. Thank you for choosing hope, even when it is hard to find. Green Mind exists because of you and for you.
With care and solidarity,
Inaam Chattha
Founder and President
Green Mind
