Winkowska, Malgorzata
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Umeå University
Research article2023Peer reviewedOpen access
Marczak, Michalina; Winkowska, Malgorzata; Chaton-Ostlie, Katia; Rios, Roxanna Morote; Klockner, Christian A.
Climate anxiety discourse focuses predominantly on individualised and potentially mentally disturbing aspects of emotional responses to the awareness of climate change which can silence the mobilising charge of strong emotions in response to climate change. We critically examine this perspective and explore the range, context, and perceived effects of emotional responses to climate change based on 33 in-depth interviews with people self -identified as highly concerned about this issue in the context of oil-wealthy Norway. Thematic analysis revealed that lived emotional experience of concern about climate change is characterised by a complex palette of co-occurring and dynamically linked emotions reported in relation to 16 evocative themes. We analyse the perceived effects of these emotions focusing on five areas: participants' mood and wellbeing, concerns about existing and hypothetical children, feelings of alienation, responsibility for the climate situation, and positive experience in the context of climate change. We discuss the psychological, social and political implications of participants' emotional experience, considering the Norwegian context, and we conclude that it goes beyond potentially debilitating and paralysing feelings, and includes politically charged moral anger and collective guilt, as well as love for nature, and a sense of community around collective climate action.
Climate change; Emotions; Climate anger; Climate anxiety; Climate action; Mental health
Emotion, Space and Society
2023, Volume: 46, article number: 100939
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD
Nature experiences and health
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2023.100939
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/122309