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Webinar: What Do Youth Want? Results and Applications from the Sacred Heart University National Polls

February 11 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST

This webinar was moved from September 24 to February 11.

Young people are not only the primary constituents of colleges and universities—they are also the generation that will inherit the pressing sustainability and social justice challenges of our time. But what do today’s youth actually want? How do they perceive these issues? And what do they believe it will take to create meaningful progress?

This webinar explores answers to those questions by sharing findings from a series of national polls conducted in 2024 and 2025 by Sacred Heart University (SHU). The 2026 poll is underway. These surveys give voice to U.S. youth (ages 15–29) and reveal how their perspectives are already shaping SHU’s curriculum, such as the First-Year Writing Seminar, and informed the development of the new Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) – now the Laudato Sí Office of Sustainability and Social Justice. Participants will be invited to consider how these insights might be applied across their own institutions.

The first report, Distress and Desires—United States Youth on Sustainability, Social Justice, Climate Change, and the Role of Higher Education (released September 25, 2024), highlights several themes:

  • Shared values across regions: Despite assumptions of division, there were minimal regional differences. Nearly 8 in 10 youth nationwide emphasized the importance of “caring” and “consciousness/awareness/mindfulness” as essential capacities—and believed universities should cultivate them.
  • Gap between responsibility and impact: While 77% felt personal responsibility to act on climate change, nearly 60% believed individual efforts would have “limited” or “no effect.”
  • Implications for higher education: One in two youth consider sustainability and social justice relevant to their future careers, and nearly three in five say such programming makes them more likely to apply to a given college or university.
  • Eco-anxiety is widespread: More than half of U.S. youth report climate concerns that cause psychological distress affecting their daily lives.

The second report, United States Youth on Sustainability and Social Justice: Anxious, Caring, Aware, Lacking Trusted Information and Seeking Institutional Response from Higher Education and Government (released June 3, 2025) reinforced the themes revealed in the first report and adds additional information relevant to higher education:

  • Nearly 2 in 3 (63%) youth report experiencing “eco-anxiety”—a level of psychological distress about climate change that impacts their daily lives—up from 55% in the 2024 ISSJ Sacred Heart University poll. Seven in 10 (70%) also report being worried about climate change.
  • Youth trust institutions like colleges, nonprofits and local governments more than corporations or religious institutions. Higher education was rated as the most trusted sector (67%) and among the top five institutions that youth believe should lead on these issues.
  • A gap in free speech: Over half of respondents say they at least occasionally hold back from sharing views on sustainability and social justice, citing fear of judgment or offending others. Despite this, 80% agree it’s important to belong to communities where they can speak openly and feel safe, revealing a gap that needs attention.

Join us to explore how higher education can better align with the priorities, concerns, and hopes of the generation that will carry this work forward.

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Presenters

Kirk Bartholomew, Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) at Sacred Heart University (SHU), and Professor Emeritus of Biology, Sacred Heart University

Kirk Bartholomew was the Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ–now the Laudato Sí Office of Sustainability and Social Justice) and taught in the Biology Department at Sacred Heart University (SHU) for 25 years. His approach while leading discussions on the creation of the institute addressed not only the underlying issues and potential solutions to problems of sustainability and social justice, but also the inner skills and capacities required to implement solutions and achieve positive change. Under his leadership, the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Laudato Sí goals were included as the key organizing frameworks of the ISSJ. These are now also being incorporated into the curriculum development that is ongoing in our First Year Writing Seminar course. Prof. Bartholomew is an investigator on a significant external grant that SHU has received to promote this activity, and was a participant in the 2024 cohort of AASHE Sustainability Across the Curriculum Support Group. He received his PhD and BS from the University of Vermont and completed his postdoctoral research at McGill University. Brooke Suter, Co-Author of ISSJ Survey & Advisor to the development of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) at Sacred Heart University.

Brooke Suter, Co-Author of ISSJ Survey & Advisor to the development of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) at Sacred Heart University

Ms. Suter’s passion is supporting personal resilience and action
empowerment to holistically address the climate crisis. As a state or national director for 20 years, she worked in 50 states and federally to build diverse coalitions, empower activists and lead adoption of nationally precedent-setting environment and public health legislation, regulation and incentive-based programs in the United States. Shifting her focus to the high-impact potential of universities, she pursued the role of the inner condition in supporting transformative social change. Now, building on 10 years of co-facilitating the MIT Sloan School of Management class, U-Lab: Transforming Self, Business & Society with Theory U founder Otto Scharmer, she works to integrate the Inner Development Goals and MIT’s Theory U: Awareness-based Systems Change to support sustainability systems-thinking across coursework, culture and alumni at Harvard University, Sacred Heart University, and in other venues. In addition, Ms Suter is the Chief Action Officer & Co-creator of the alumni Harvard Climate Action Training, Co-founder of the Inner Development Goals (IDG) Connecticut Possibilities Network, and Principal of Sustainable Leadership to Thrive. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

 

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