Disempowering emotions: The role of educational experiences in social responses to climate change

“3,25 Children are now turning to legal action based on government failure to protect ecosystems, young citizens, and their futures.”

“Not only does sociological research confirm that people feel eco-anxiety about questions like these (e.g., Berglund, 2019; Schneider-Mayerson and Leung, 2020; Jones and Davison, 2021; Marczak et al., 2021), but it also highlights how these anxieties engage both reflection about what to do and a motivation to act”

“Some young people have reported feeling unsupported when they express concern about climate change; some report frustration or anger about the responses of others, including governments [30,33].”

“…and Fernando 2022). indeed, a recent study found that most students reported feeling disem-powered by their education related to climate change (Jones and Davison 2021). educating for climate justice in formal settings may thus offer young people a space to reflect on and process their…”

“Jones and Davison (2021), for example, found that climate change education evoked feelings of overwhelm, powerlessness, anger, and betrayal among youth in their study.”

“In addition, feelings of helplessness are quite common, i.e., young people feel that they cannot influence the climate problem (Ballantyne et al., 2016; Jones & Davison, 2021; Strife, 2012; Threadgold, 2012).”

“Despite the predicted scale of the impact climate change may have on future generations, academic literature relating to youth perceptions and concerns surrounding climate change has been limited (Jones & Davison, 2021; Lee, Gjersoe, O’Neill, & Barnett, 2020).”

“…the scientific (rather than social) dimensions of the problems we collectively face, as well as their scientific and technological (rather than cultural or political) solutions (Jones and Davison 2021; Jorgenson, Stephens, and White 2019; Plutzer et al. 2016; Selby 2015; Selby and Kagawa 2010).”

“Attending to the emotions in education is challenging, as in practice teachers report experiencing an ‘emotional load’ when teaching environmental and sustainability education [23], and anger, hopelessness, fear, and anxiety are prevalent climate change emotions among both teachers and young people [24,25].”

“Jones and Davison (2021) found that young people’s educational experiences of climate change are frequently disempowering, contributing to feelings of abandonment and betrayal by older generations.”

“…climate change alone have been found to leave young people feeling ‘stripped of power’, ‘stranded by the generational gap’ and ‘daunted by the future’ – as Jones and davison (2021) found in their interview study with young people about learning about climate change at school (p. 192). disembodied…”

“On the other end of the emotional spectrum, surface-level engagement with climate change may lead to apathy and denial of our climate-altered reality, because the existential threat of the climate crisis can be too disturbing for some learners to process (Jones and Davison, 2021).”

“While addressing the climate crisis in developmentally appropriate ways remains a concern for some educators (Jones and Davison, 2021), disregarding the climate crisis ’ s profound affective, psycho-social and psycho-spiritual dimensions is no longer tenable in classrooms.”

“For example, young people have often reported that their climate anxiety has grown worse because political leaders do not engage in ambitious climate politics (e.g., Hickman 2020; Jones and Davison 2021; cf. Hickman et al. 2021; Johnson and Wilkinson 2020).”

“Qualitative studies further illustrate that young people perceive their parents’ and teachers’ generation to be less concerned and less inclined to act even though they are more responsible and able to do so (Jones and Davison 2021).”

“This approach aligns with literature indicating that environmental education which focuses on the facts alone, without providing opportunities for meaningful engagement in action, can lead to overwhelming and disempowering anxiety (Haltinner and Sarathchandra 2018; Jones and Davison 2021).”

“Children and youth often report that they feel that adults do not understand or validate their climate-related losses, including significant intangible losses (e.g. Diffey et al. 2022; C. A.; Jones and Davison 2021).”

“It is important to recognize that climate change education has the potential for negative impacts, from calling climate change into question, to minimizing the problem, to increasing anxiety (e.g. Jones and Davison 2021).”

“This study also contributes by addressing the research gap pointed out by Hickman et al. (2021), Jones and Davison (2021), Monroe et al. (2017), and Plutzer et al. (2016) regarding identifying and evaluating teaching strategies that are effective and engaging so that learners are motivated and…”

“In a study of the responses of adolescents in Australia to negatively-framed climate change education, the authors found the majority report feeling disempowered and helpless regarding climate change (Jones and Davison, 2021).”

“…as students’ concern for the future can lead to action (Denniss and Davison 2015). our findings reinforce research proposing that climate change learning can instill a sense of hope and urgency that encourages university students to practice climate change advocacy (Jones and Davison 2021).”

“Learning lessons from other empowerment practices [72], these strategies should also indicate how an individual actor can support the overall system to reduce decision paralysis.”

“As a result, young people report feeling that their CCE left them either under-informed about the gravity of the climate crisis, or—due to its apolitical, scientific framing with no action orientation—feeling overwhelmed, terrified and immobilised (Jones & Davison, 2021; Neas, 2023).”

“This gap between belief and behavior may be due to individual actions seeming unimpactful, leading to feelings of disempowerment [31], helplessness, and demoralization [51].”

“While formal education is broadly understood as empowering young people by building their knowledge and skills (Jones & Davison, 2020), it is also expected to provide them with a safe, protective environment.”

“However, young people have pointed out the lack of platforms for intergenerational collaboration (Diffey et al. 2022), which—beyond action—can represent opportunities to build mutual understanding and trust between younger and older generations (Jones and Davison 2021).”

“, they feel that they cannot influence this problem [11,12].”

“Several interview studies concur that individual and collective self-efficacy seems to be low in many young people, e.g., [48–50].”

“Furthermore, hope through seeing others act and shared responsibility are associ­ ated with increased collective efficacy beliefs and a sense of having control and power to mitigate the climate crisis (Haugestad et al., 2021; Jones & Davison, 2021; Prendergast et al., 2021).”

“Education, conflict, and climate change are intricately interrelated within the context of globalization and the ongoing struggle to balance the imperatives of global integration with the pressing need to address inequalities (Monroe et al. 2019; Jones and Davison 2021).”

“Also, they pay more attention to technical solutions than behavioural change or system change (Jones and Davison 2021; Trott 2022).”

“As identified by Jones and Davison (2021), the process of learning about climate change is an emotional encounter that can have ongoing effects for students, including a feeling of disempowerment.”

“Karl has deeply understood the gravity of the situation humanity finds itself in yet has found himself ‘stripped of power’ (Jones & Davison, 2021, p. 194) by the way his school leadership operates.”

“Encouraging children to explore their emotional responses to climate change, share feelings, and receive guidance helps safeguard well-being (Jones and Davison 2021; Jones and Lucas 2023).”

“This pedagogy holds a deep understanding that the most significant change happens when messy, deep emotions are acknowledged and experienced (Jones and Davison 2021; Ruch et al. 2018).”

“Concern for emotions in climate change education has come predominantly from environmental and welfare perspectives (Jones and Davison 2021; Norgaard 2011; Ojala 2012).”

“Jones and Davison (2021) found students were considerably frustrated by the lack of political engagement provided in climate change education and were left feeling disempowered.”

“This is similar to previous research on young people’s voices, where the idea of adults and policymakers falling to take adequate actions was seen as a primary driver of anxiety and disillusionment (Hickman, 2020; Hickman et al., 2021; Jones & Davison, 2021).”

“Young adults have reported feeling anger and betrayal in relation to having been abandoned by older adults in relation to climate change (Jones and Davison, 2021).”

“The findings expand upon themes in other Australian studies examining young people’s emotional responses to climate change - in particular, feelings of worry and uncertainty about the future (Verlie 2019; Jones and Davison 2021; Gunasiri et al. 2022).”

“Jones and Davison (2021) qualitative study found three main emotional themes towards CC in the life stories of 16 young adults aged 18–24: feeling disempowered, stranded by the generation gap, and anxious about the future.”

“For some young people, this perception has led to a feeling of outright antagonism toward adults who they feel are being emotionally neglectful and even abusive through their inaction to address climate change, and in others it has led to withdrawal from adults who they see as unresponsive to their needs [38].”

“But the available evidence suggests that conveying perspective and hope, rather than doom and gloom, may be more empowering in helping youth respond to climate change (Jones & Davison, 2021; Ojala, 2012; Stafford et al., 2023; Stevenson & Peterson, 2015).”

“Despite the various emotions students experience, they often find learning experiences about CC disempowering due to prevalent instructional practices and educational curricula (Jones & Davison, 2021).”

“At the same time, children and young people experience overlapping and dynamically shifting emotions in relation to climate change (Jones and Davison, 2021; Verlie, 2022) – particularly young people who identify as involved in climate activism and advocacy.”

“The FFF protests allow the students to learn actively, independently and democrat-ically in authentic environments outside the classroom (France & Haigh, 2018; Jones & Davison, 2021; Spector et al., 2014).”

“Still others claim that speci fi c skills are needed to reduce and adapt to climate change (Tayne et al. 2021), while some claim that teachers do not understand the subject enough to be able to teach it (Jones and Davison 2021).”

“Although some existing research has speci fi cally identi fi ed and reported on the question of which climate emotions tend to cluster together and why, this remains an area for further exploration (Jones and Davison, 2021; Marczak et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022; Zaremba et al., 2022).”

“Many voices now demand that CCE should offer a creative, critical and transformative pedagogy with space for young people to address the climate crisis in all its scientific, social and affective uncertainty and complexity (Jones and Davison 2021; Kubisch et al. 2022; Schwittay 2023; Trott 2022).”

“Similarly, research of young adults in Australia showed that climate learning experiences that provoked fear also led to disempowering emotions (Jones and Davison 2021), which are thought to disengage learners (O’Neill and Nicholson-Cole 2009).”

“…has shown that when climate change education takes place it still focuses on teaching school students the scientific rather than the social dimensions of climate change together with the scientific/technological rather than political or social solutions (Jones & Davison, 2021; Trott, 2022).”

“Thus, by taking action to do this the teacher educators were demonstrating activism (Jones & Davison, 2021).”

“…framed out of educational engage-ments with the climate crisis, learners are, at best, left with an impoverished understanding of the problem and, at worst, disempowered, possessing little sense of agency in relation to the knowledge they have acquired (Trott et al. 2023; Jones and Davison 2021).”