Fearful of the future and paranoid about the present: the emotional geographies of young climate activists in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Research from across the social sciences suggests that attention to emotions is integral for understanding responses to climate change information and awareness at the individual level. Geographic research has focused on how emotions inhibit or encourage acceptance of and subsequent action in response to climate change knowledge. Little research exists documenting the emotions involved in people who remain engaged with the issue. This research investigates the emotions present in a group of young climate activists in Auckland, New Zealand. Using emotional geography as a theoretical basis for approaching emotions, this thesis addresses the influence of social and physical context on the emotions of participants. It also explores the effect that the climate change narrative has on young activists' emotional experiences of the problem. The climate narrative is identified by predictions of collapse and apocalyptic conditions. It puts the responsibility for solving the problem onto the individual through their own behavior changes. This research project undertook semi-structured focus group interviews with 16 climate activists. Focus groups featured conversations about how participants' visions and expectations about the future are impacted by their climate change awareness as well as how their awareness and activism impact their day-to-day emotional experience. Results from the interviews indicate that young people's emotional responses to climate change include anxiety, fear, anger, frustration, hopelessness, cynicism and grief. Participants display neurotic awareness of their own harmful behaviors (i.e. driving and eating meat) and frustrated judgement of other people's behaviors. Additionally, they display hopelessness and nihilism about the future, with most participants expressing the belief that climate change will result in the end of humanity in their lifetime. Those who did not express an apocalyptic view of the future used strategies of disavowal to justify their hope. Disavowal is an emotional tool used when an unpleasant reality or threat is impossible to ignore but simultaneously too difficult to solve. Methods of disavowal enable individuals to downplay the threat to cope with the emotional overwhelm the threat presents. This thesis contributes to geography by giving voice to the experience of young adults, an underrepresented group in climate change research.