A ‘greenhouse affect’? Exploring young Australians’ emotional responses to climate change

IF 4.8 2区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Climatic Change Pub Date : 2024-05-06 DOI:10.1007/s10584-024-03737-y
Tanja Russell
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Abstract

Recent studies reveal that young people are experiencing a range of emotions relating to climate change, including anxiety, anger and a sense of powerlessness. Young people have also voiced distrust in governments for failing to adequately address climate change, which they see as a critical threat to their future. However, there is limited research considering the interplay between young people’s emotions about climate change and the broader social context in which they live; social-ecological theory can assist in identifying important systemic factors influencing emotional responses to climate change. In this qualitative research project, I drew upon a social-ecological theoretical framework to explore the affective dimensions of climate change as experienced by young Australians aged 18–24 (N = 14). A primary, overarching finding was of climate change as a multidimensional emotional challenge for young people, with four sub-themes that describe key experiences through which it manifests: a fragmented climate education; disillusionment with politics, but hope for change; reckoning with uncertain futures; and grappling with agency. The findings contribute to the growing literature on climate-related emotions, highlighting experiences of interrelated emotions that resist being reduced to one label (e.g., ‘eco-anxiety’). Accordingly, I discuss a ‘greenhouse affect’ to convey the affective quandary provoked by climate change, expanding upon established anxiety-centred concepts. I also discuss implications for educating young Australians about climate change, and how this might improve their sense of agency to meaningfully contribute to climate solutions.

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温室效应"?探索澳大利亚年轻人对气候变化的情绪反应
最近的研究表明,年轻人正经历着一系列与气候变化有关的情绪,包括焦虑、愤怒和无力感。年轻人还对政府未能充分应对气候变化表示不信任,认为气候变化对他们的未来构成严重威胁。然而,考虑到年轻人对气候变化的情绪与他们所生活的更广泛的社会环境之间的相互作用的研究却很有限;社会生态理论可以帮助确定影响对气候变化的情绪反应的重要系统因素。在这一定性研究项目中,我借鉴了社会生态理论框架,探讨了 18-24 岁澳大利亚年轻人(14 人)对气候变化的情感体验。一个主要的、总体性的发现是,气候变化对年轻人来说是一个多层面的情感挑战,其中有四个次主题描述了其表现出来的主要经历:支离破碎的气候教育;对政治的幻灭,但对变革的希望;对不确定未来的估计;以及对代理权的努力。这些研究结果为日益增多的气候相关情绪的文献做出了贡献,突出了相互关联的情绪体验,这些情绪无法简化为一个标签(如 "生态焦虑")。因此,我讨论了 "温室效应",以表达气候变化引发的情感窘境,并扩展了以焦虑为中心的既定概念。我还讨论了对澳大利亚年轻人进行气候变化教育的意义,以及如何提高他们的能动性,为气候解决方案做出有意义的贡献。
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来源期刊
Climatic Change
Climatic Change 环境科学-环境科学
CiteScore
10.20
自引率
4.20%
发文量
180
审稿时长
7.5 months
期刊介绍: Climatic Change is dedicated to the totality of the problem of climatic variability and change - its descriptions, causes, implications and interactions among these. The purpose of the journal is to provide a means of exchange among those working in different disciplines on problems related to climatic variations. This means that authors have an opportunity to communicate the essence of their studies to people in other climate-related disciplines and to interested non-disciplinarians, as well as to report on research in which the originality is in the combinations of (not necessarily original) work from several disciplines. The journal also includes vigorous editorial and book review sections.
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