The climate crisis is a looming source of dread for many young people, while levels of concern among older people are far lower — and that gulf is causing sometimes painful rifts among US families, the Guardian reports. The generational divide is also increasingly true for young conservatives who are increasingly worried about climate change. “I would try to speak to my grandmother but the conversation automatically gets very heated,” 16-year-old Gemma Gutierrez told the Guardian. Her grandfather, a former Exxon employee, is also dismissive of her concerns. “Kids go with the crowd and everyone is talking about climate change,’ he said. Lily Jarosz, 17, described the pain caused by her grandmother’s apathy on the issue. “She’s said to me multiple times ‘why does it matter?’ That hurts me so much, like she doesn’t care about me or understand the immediacy of the issue,” Jarosz said. Climate change is also motivating younger-than-voting-age Gen Zers to take the place of older election day volunteers. “This is the most important election of our lifetime,” partly because of climate change, 17-year-old Sarah Zhang, who woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning to volunteer at her local polling station, told the Washington Post. “All of us are under 18 and we can’t vote, so this is the best way we can get involved in the election and make a real difference.” (The Guardian, Washington Post $)