Climate emotion, wellbeing, and equity: Implications for teaching sustainability in a divided world

• In Event: Wellbeing for whom and how? Addressing educational inequities in a divided world

Proposal

Climate emotions are the feelings, moods, and affects that people experience in relation to the climate crisis.These emotions include more negative feelings like anxiety, guilt, and worry; as well as positive feelings such as hope, love, and empowerment (Pihkala, 2022; Ojala et al., 2021), and are proving increasingly relevant to fostering wellbeing and equity in education. As the climate crisis grows, its impacts on the emotions of children and youth are becoming more apparent. In a survey of 10,000 young people (aged 16 to 25 years) across ten countries, Hickman et al. (2021) found evidence of widespread eco-anxiety, with 84% of respondents reporting moderate or more severe worry over climate change, and 45% saying that this worry affected their day-to-day life.

Increasingly, there are a number of studies in both education and psychology that examine the relationship between climate emotions and wellbeing (Ojala et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022). These studies often conceptualize wellbeing as a psychological and emotional phenomenon experienced by an individual (Ma et al., 2022; Martin et al., 2022), rather than on a collective or community scale. Wellbeing is also considered from the standpoint of physical health, as climate change-related conditions often increase rates of asthma, malnutrition, and vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever, which can all work to erode emotional resilience and mental health among young people (Proulx et al., 2024).

Literature on climate emotions, education, and equity delves into the implicit injustice of the climate crisis, exploring the ways that children and youth of marginalized identities suffer disproportionately (Trott et al., 2023), as well as how those most responsible for the climate crisis (e.g.actors from high income countries or communities) are often the least affected by its harmful effects (Stapleton, 2019).While this realization can prompt feelings of anger and resentment (Kleres & Wettergren, 2017), understanding issues of equity and justice may also support the development of feelings empathy or agency.

This presentation explores literature at the nexus of climate emotion, wellbeing, and equity in education, with a focus on pedagogies and strategies that foster individual and collective resilience. These strategies include the conceptualization of place as inherently pedagogical (Gruenewald, 2003) as well as hope-enhancing pedagogies which “can transform worry into a constructive motivational force” (Ojala, 2012, p. 638) supporting a sense of social trust in others (authority figures, experts, organizations, etc.) to work toward climate change mitigation (Kerret et al., 2020). I argue that as comparative and international education scholars, we are uniquely positioned to examine how schools and other spaces of learning shape the development of climate emotions in children and youth. Using two case examples (one from a public secondary school in Ecuador, the other from a private university in the United States), the presentation highlights how context of place and individual positionalities influences how teachers and students engage with sustainability education while navigating their own climate emotions.

Author

• Neela Nandyal, St. Catherine University