As concerns about climate change escalate among Aotearoa’s youth, mental health advocate Mike King is taking action.
The “I Am Climate Hope Tour,” aims to raise awareness of youth mental health, particularly climate anxiety, by biking the country’s length on an electric bike. King kicked off his 29-day journey in Whangārei yesterday.
Despite the physical challenges of biking up to 10 hours daily, King remains focused on his mission.
“It was a 200-kilometre ride today, and at 37km an hour, it could be more fun. But it’s for a good cause. It’s for the kids,” King said.
The tour is a collaboration with I Am Hope, Genesis, UBCO, and Ara Ake, featuring climate change advocate Jeff Murupaenga-Ikenn as a guest speaker.
Tackling the mental health stigma in local communities
King’s journey is largely about shifting attitudes toward mental health in Aotearoa. He acknowledges the progress made but insists there’s more work to be done, especially amongst the boomer generation. “We are slower to adapt to the new way of thinking. There is still a little bit of the toughen-up attitude, but we are slowly getting there,” King shared.
“We’re 10 times further along than when we started but we’ve still got 100 times to go.”
The I Am Climate Hope Tour also seeks to give a voice to young people dealing with climate anxiety. King recalled a powerful moment from one of his school visits:
“I remember the first school I spoke at, a little Māori kid said to me when I asked, ‘What’s the biggest problem in mental health today?’ and he said ‘climate’. I asked, ‘What about climate?’ and he said, ‘You don’t care about the climate - you’ll be dead soon but our planet’s dying and nobody is doing anything about it.’ That pretty much sums it up.”
King also addressed the need for more transparency in mental health funding. “If you look at the $1.9 billion that the Labour government put in, we still don’t know where it went. Where did it go? Maybe cuts to bureaucracy are the way to go, and we need to increase frontline services.”
As King’s tour leads up to the nationwide Gumboot Friday on November 1, he hopes to inspire young people to feel heard and supported. The event, which provides free counselling sessions to youth, now includes over 500 counsellors and has offered more than 100,000 sessions.