Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
On the first Sunday of every month, a few dozen volunteers, most of them under twenty-five, gather at a lake on the edge of the city to drag out plastic and water hyacinth. Ask them why they come, and few mention the lake. A second-year student, her gloves black with silt, told me she had spent many nights last summer lying awake after reading about heatwaves. Out here, she said, her hands were busy and her head was quieter.
Surveys in many countries find that a large share of young people are worried about climate change. The tempting response is to treat this as a disorder to be managed. Most psychologists resist that. Climate anxiety is not listed as a mental illness, and many see it as a sane reaction to a real threat. The trouble lies less in the worry than in what it does when it has nowhere to go.
Where it should go is less obvious than the slogans suggest. “Just do something” is the usual advice, and it is not wrong. Studies of collective action suggest that working with others eases helplessness better than private fretting does. Yet action is no dependable cure. Young campaigners speak openly of burnout, and a teenager who believes the planet hangs on her weekends can end up more anxious, not less. The advice also loads a vast problem onto very young shoulders.
Some would call the Sunday clean-up Sisyphean. The lake will be choked with plastic again by March, and the climate will not notice. The volunteers would probably agree. They come anyway, and by noon the student with the silted gloves is arguing with a friend about which chai stall is worth the walk.
Which of the following best expresses the central idea of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Young people’s climate worry is a fair response, and shared effort can ease it, though action is no sure cure.
The writer looks at why young people worry about the climate and what eases that worry.
- The writer does not see the worry as an illness. Many psychologists see it as “a sane reaction to a real threat”. Sane means sensible.
- Working with others helps. It eases helplessness “better than private fretting does”. Fretting means worrying again and again.
- But the writer adds that action is “no dependable cure”. Some young campaigners even burn out.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Climate anxiety has become a mental illness among the young, and psychologists must find better ways to treat it. — Incorrect. Contradicted: The passage says climate anxiety “is not listed as a mental illness”. Most psychologists do not see it as a disorder.
Option 3: Joining a group that works for the environment is the most dependable way for a young person to stop worrying. — Incorrect. Overstated: Group work does ease helplessness. But the writer says action is “no dependable cure” and can even add to the worry.
Option 4: Volunteer clean-ups do little for the climate, so young people should give their weekends to more useful work. — Incorrect. Misread: The writer admits the climate “will not notice” the clean-up. But the writer never asks the volunteers to stop. The clean-up quiets their worry.