Youth Perception of Climate Change: Enhancing Risk Communication for a Sustainable Future

The human-nature relationship evolves over time, encompassing a continuum of interactions that oscillate between synergistic and exploitative extremes. This spectrum spans fromecocentric perspectives, with nature seen as an autonomous entity external to human society, to social paradigms that emphasize the inextricable interconnection between humans andnature. The climate crisis has highlighted the critical challenges of this dichotomy, revealing how the natural cycles of climate change have significantly accelerated because ofanthropogenic activities. With both immediate and long-term impacts becoming evident, the climate crisis is profoundly affecting young people, who are called to endure with present effects and developadaptation strategies for future impacts. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the perception of younger generations on the climate risk and the overall human-naturerelationship, as well as their preferred communication strategies. The objective is to explore how integrating scientific knowledge with different narrative formats can foster more effectiverisk communication among young people and improve global understanding of the environmental challenges laying ahead. The analysis focuses on independent study projects developed by students enrolled in the master’s degree program in Environmental Risk and Civil Protection at the UniversitàPolitecnica delle Marche , in Ancona (Italy), over the decade 2014 - 2024. These students were tasked with identifying potentially effective narratives and critically reflecting on the climatecrisis storytelling through the analysis of literary, oral, and audiovisual works addressing its ethical, emotional, and moral dimensions. The sources they examined ranged from the writingsof Pope Francis to the speeches of various public figures, as well as artistic representation of climate change. Through these narratives, students engaged with the idea thatenvironmental issues are inherently cross-cutting and require not only scientific solutions but also ethical and emotional commitments. The findings suggest that students perceive the need to envision alternative models of human-nature interaction to engage the wider community. These new models should facilitatedeeper exploration of a shared concern: human accountability for climate change. Such an approach seems to enhance young people’s sense of responsibility while broadening theirhorizon towards adaptive social models that harmonize scientific rationality with human sensitivity.