🌱Imagine... A Generation Rising Despite the Storm🌱
💡 Imagined Endstate:
A Pacific where young people emerge resilient—equipped with mental health support, economic opportunities, and community strength to withstand the pressures of an unstable world.
📚 Source:
Novet, J. (2025, May 10). Gen Z is so unhappy they fear they’ll never recover—Harvard’s longest-running study finds most young Americans feel life is worse than their parents’. Fortune. Link
💥 What’s the Big Deal:
This Harvard survey paints a sobering picture: 56% of Gen Z say their mental health is fair or poor, and the majority believe life is worse for them than for their parents🌍. The causes—economic uncertainty, climate anxiety, social fragmentation—are global, but their impacts in the Pacific Islands are compounded by a unique convergence of risks.
For Pacific Island Small Island Developing States (PI-SIDS), the next generation comes of age in the shadow of rising seas 🌊, intergenerational wealth disparity 🏝️, and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape. These young people face the dual burden of preserving their cultures while navigating external forces beyond their control. The psychological toll is immense🧠: knowing your homeland may disappear in your lifetime, watching foreign powers jostle over your ocean territories, and feeling locked out of economic mobility.
But this is not inevitable. Resilience can be cultivated when mental health is treated as a public priority, when economic policies center on inclusive growth, and when young leaders are empowered to advocate for climate justice and sovereignty⚓. The well-being of Gen Z in the Pacific—and everywhere—depends on whether we choose to invest in their capacity to thrive.
#GenZ, #MentalHealth, #PacificResilience, #ClimateAnxiety, #IntergenerationalEquity, #YouthLeadership, #FutureIsNow,#IMSPARK,
