July 8, 2025 Public Presentation - Krish Arora
Addressing youth climate anxiety
with city Climate Action Plan
Krish Arora
Rising Senior, The Harker School, San Jose
[email protected]
1 About myself
Aug 2020: Orange skies over Bay Area compelled me to do something.
Summary: Climate anxiety → Climate action
5+ years of research in climate impact mitigation and climate resilience FindMySpace: Affordable AI/ML based method to reduce idling emissions caused by drivers looking for parking in cities. (Synopsys award, IEEE, Patent, City Recognition) EcoSat: Affordable AIML based method to accurately estimate CO2 emissions from satellite images of power plant chimneys. (Synopsys award, IEEE, City Recognition) MIT/BWSI: Coursework and project to build most efficient routing of relief supplies in hurricane impacted region.
UCSD/INC: Research intern in a multi-university effort on neuromorphic computing with a goal to build chips that are 2X more energy efficient for Al workloads. (Nature publication pending) Climate anxiety: Research youth climate anxiety and ways to address. 2 POST MEETING MATERIAL
1 July 8, 2025 Public Presentation - Krish Arora
Youth climate anxiety is a real and growing concern
Study after study shows >50% of youth are highly concerned about climate change and its impact.
Climate anxiety is characterized by a feeling of lack of control and helplessness. It can manifest as a mental health concern. symptoms can include depression.
California wildfires are especially a huge factor contributing to local youth climate anxiety.
EVACUATED
Pictures taken by my cousins
Google search trends in California (2010:2025)
climate anxiety vs. climate disaster vs climate progress LOS
Concern and worry about
climate and climate disaster
far outweighs curiosity about
climate progress
Climate anxiety
Pantiese s
Climate
Climate disaster progress
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July 8, 2025 Public Presentation - Krish Arora
Recommended Solutions
1. Take action: reduce impact on climate
2. I Connect with nature: nature walks, conservation projects
3. Balance negative news with climate progress updates. Be real and balanced.
4. Learn about climate resilience through courses like one offered by UC.
5. Engage with local community
I focused on #3.
California Air Emissions Board(CARB) provides detailed transportation emissions data since 2000. I took some of this data and generated some insights that show the progress we ve made
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/msei/on-road-emfac 5 Santa Clara county and California have made progress (2000:2024) Analyzed GHG and population dataset: custom analytics tool 2 Carr
43 out of 58 counties reduced GHG 54 out of 58 counties reduced per capita emissions between 2000 and 2024. GHG emissions between 2000 and 2024 6 3
July 8, 2025 Public Presentation - Krish Arora
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Santa Clara county and California have made progress (2000:2024) Analyzed GHG and population dataset
Year GHG Emissions Per person GHG Population
2000 7,509,119 MT 4.46 MT 1685000 Santa Clara county reduced net emissions by 23.7% and
2024 5,724,622 MT 2.97 MT 1926325 per capita GHG by 33% between 2000 and 2024
Change -23.76% -33.4% +14.32%
Year [GHG Emissions Per person GHG Population GDP California reduced its net 2000 165031500 MT 4.87 MT 33871648 1.8 Trillion emissions by 7.2% between 2024 153077200 MT 3.88 MT 39431263 4.1 Trillion 2000 and 2024 while GDP Change increased by > 100%
-7.2% -20.3% +16.41% +128%
Proposals
1. Sections in green newsletter around climate progress a. I already have an Op Ed written with these insights.
2. Update the city's Climate Action Plan with a goal for reducing climate anxiety.
3. Make an accessible analytics tool/website that shows local climate progress. a. I am developing a website with the insights I showed and more.
Thank you for listening!
contact: [email protected]
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