Toward a Taxonomy of Climate Emotions

“A few existing, broad surveys of climate emotions are used as references to the existence of many of these climate emotions (especially Hyry, 2019; Hickman et al., 2021), but it was not possible in this research to evaluate the prevalence or statistics related to these emotions.”

“The concept and phenomenon of climate anxiety is closely related to this (Clayton, 2020; Pihkala, 2020a).”

“…it, this interpretation seems to be more closely related to the influence of educational grade, mainly due to its effect on the increase in Powerlessness and decrease of Hope and Optimism , which are closely related to the perceived inability to address or overcome the problem (Pihkala 2022).”

“In this sense, Pihkala (2020) emphasizes that uncertainty, uncontrollability and unpredictability are central aspects of eco-anxiety, which might lead to feelings of helplessness, powerlessness and being overwhelmed (see also Pihkala 2022 ).”

“Scholars like Pihkala have identi fi ed gaps in understanding these emotions, noting that feelings such as guilt, shame, and numbness are not well-captured by basic emotion theories, necessitating expanded frameworks [11].”

“17,18 My later work has extended the analysis of various forms of ecological loss and grief.”

“…is often associated with emotional experiences, particularly anxiety stemming from uncertainty about how to best respond to perceived threats related to environmental crisis (Pihkala, 2022) Climate change’s impact on mental health is a growing but still underdeveloped area of research.”

“Furthermore, as the emotions associated with climate change go beyond anxiety to include other affective responses such as grief and fear [78,79], a useful extension to the present study would be to use a broader array of constructs to produce a better typology of climate change − related emotions.”

“To analyze our data, we used thematic analysis (Clarke et al., 2015), informed by the literature on appraisal theory (Scherer, 1999) and climate emotions (Pihkala, 2022).”

“This is also evident in relation to ecological grief and anxiety: The ecological crisis evokes many kinds of emotions in people (Albrecht 2019; Hickman et al. 2021; Pihkala 2022b).”

“This connection is based on the understanding that emotions are central to our actions (Zins and Elias 2006), specifically, human actions to protect the environment (Chawla 2020; Hinds and Sparks 2008; Liefländer et al. 2013; Reis and Roth 2009).”

“Developments in psychological science and ecophilosophy highlight an urgent need to foster a sense personal agency for the promotion of planetary wellbeing, rediscovering a sense of purpose and hope, and reconnecting with and cultivating compassion for the natural world, which will require reaching out to those with d…”

“A community of practice, rooted in climate storytelling, can serve as a catalyst for urgent climate action [68,69].”

“Recent literature suggests that climate justice activism is associated with a complex range of emotions, such as climate anxiety and climate grief, as well as intensified feelings of hope, but also of despair [16].”

“For environmental causes, compassion, empathy, and sympathy are often directed at nature, places, ecosystems, “Mother Earth” and non-human living creatures (Schultz, 2002; Kashima et al., 2014; Pihkala, 2022), people hit by catastrophes (Schultz, 2001), or future generations (Brosch et al., 2014).”

“In this broad sense, it is “typical for climate emotions that they manifest together with various other emotions, in a plurality of compositions” (Pihkala, 2022, p. 9).”

“Other emerging evidence also shows that such emotions affect our thinking, behavior, and actions toward sustainability issues (Nabi et al. 2018; Pihkala 2022) as they guide what kind and how we interpret information; trigger our action tendencies; and leave memory traces for future behaviors…”

“In recent years, new phenomena of climate-change related affective responses have been observed and conceptualized, including eco-anxiety and climate anxiety (Coffey et al., 2021; Kurth and Pihkala, 2022; Pihkala, 2022; Boehme et al., 2024).”

“Ecoanxiety is a relatively new term used to describe what may be experienced when climate disaster is not currently wreaking havoc (Pihkala, 2022; Pinkhala, 2022).”

“Awareness of this threat can trigger negative emotions such as anxiety, sadness, anger, or guilt (Pihkala, 2022), often subsumed under terms like climate anxiety, eco-anxiety, or eco-distress.”

“Research on climate affect points to the complexity of the relationship between feeling and pro-environmental actions and behaviour and the need to take contextual factors into account (Pihkala, 2022).”

“Based on their proposed typologies, both researchers propose a higher ratio for unpleasant ( “ negative ” ) versus pleasant ( “ positive ” ) eco-emotions (about 3:2 for 22; and 2:1 for 42).”

“…about environmentally aware individuals experiencing conditions of solostalgia (Bogard 2023), and grief, anger, distress, hopelessness, and anxiety, among other emotions (Hamilton 2022; Pihkala 2022; Ray 2021) in the face of learning about climate change, biodiversity losses, and other issues.”

“Previous studies have also organized climate emotions based on self-condemning, other-condemning, self-praising, other-praising categories, and more [21], as well as emotion categories based on closeness between emotions [20].”

“More recently, Pihkala (2022) notes that grief, desolation, anger, indignation and guilt can also be part of our experience.”

“As these are relatively new concepts, there remains conceptual confounding along with numerous knowledge and practice gaps in the existing research (Ojala et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022; Zaremba et al., 2024).”

“Research is now burgeoning across the social sciences, humanities, and mental health-related disciplines seeking to understand these ‘climate emotions’ (Albrecht 2019, Pihkala 2022; Verlie 2024; Wray 2022; Davidson and Kecinski 2021; Adams 2021; Clayton 2020; Tsui 2021).”

“Although there is a tendency to categorize climate emotions as either positive or negative (Pihkala 2022), it is important to be cautious about this dichotomy and to focus more on the dynamic shifts in their valence (Bellocchi and Turner 2019).”

“However, citizens ’ perceptions are complex and emotions, even if becoming an increasingly relevant factor in policy processes (Pierce, 2021), arise as an underexplored domain in the fi eld (Pihkala, 2022).”

“While still an emerging concept, authors like Comtesse et al. (2021), Pihkala (2022), and Cunsolo and Ellis (2018) provide compelling vignettes of the way ecological grief impacts lives, and how a better understanding of it could help identify opportunities to reduce human suffering.”

“Given the uncertainty associated with climate change, it follows that people will exhibit varying emotional responses (Pihkala, 2022a).”

“Guilt has been found to be one of a swathe of negative emotions that people feel in response to climate change (Pihkala, 2022) but there is a clear lack of research on guilt specifically amongst climate professionals.”

“…or political efforts to block such eco-emotions affect people ’ s behaviours and decision-making about the environment, others, and themselves, for example, becoming climate denialists to “ ease ” eco-guilt and eco-shame, withdrawing from sports participation because of eco-anxiety (80, 81).”

“Understanding the advancements in climate change education within this region, our aim is to contribute education by exploring the deep emotional implications of climate change (CC), a dimension inherent in its multifaceted complexity as a multifaceted phenomenon (Pihkala, 2022).”

“This grief reflects the spiritual and emotional challenge of the environmental crisis (Albrecht 2019; Pihkala 2024) and the complex nature of ecoanxiety, inter-twining longings for both the past and future (Pihkala 2022, 2024).”

“Ecological grief is a good example of an emotion that has emerged and established itself as such as a result of a complicated historical development [35,36].”

“Researchers have argued that understanding the affective dimensions of environmental crises is central to grasping the social processes that shape responses towards them (Norgaard, 2011; Pihkala, 2022).”

“Diese werden in diesem Kontext oft als „Klimagefühle“ bezeichnet und nicht per se als pathologisch, sondern im Sinne menschlichen Denkens und Empfindens als normale Reaktion eingeordnet [15, 31].”

“The intensifying psychological stress in response to climate events (Albrecht, 2011, 2012, 2014; Pihkala, 2022a) fuels the urgency to understand the baseline human-ecosystem relationship.”

“Some items were derived from the work of Pihkala (2022), Galway and Beery (2022), and Schwartzberg, Stevens, and Acton (2022), while others were generated by the expert (e.g. bored, curious, inspired to act).”

“For example, people experience increased concern and commitment to planetary health when they experience awe (Bai et al., 2017), empathy (Berenguer, 2007, 2010), and compassion (see Pihkala, 2022 for a review of all three in regards to climate change concerns).”

“Eco-emotions tend to be defined more narrowly, generally focusing on subjective feelings toward ecological issues, such as anxiety, guilt, anger, and hope [15].”

“In the context of climate change, however, researchers suggest that the items of the subscale acceptance (e.g. “ I think that I must learn to live with it ” ) may also reflect a certain degree of resignation and help-and hopelessness (Clayton et al., 2017; Martin & Dahlen, 2005).”

“Exposure to climate-related information can elicit a range of emotional responses, including anxiety, fear, and worry (Ojala et al., 2021; Pihkala, 2022).”

“And in a recent piece, Pihkala (2022) argues that people experience ecological grief both as individuals and as part of collectivities.”

“From a psychological perspective, experiencing anxiety is part of a larger complex adaptive system to respond to anticipated threats 1,9 .”

“The present research, like many fundamental studies in the field of environmental emotions (Pihkala 2022; Borou-mand et al. 2024), showed that negative eco-emotions such as environmental anger, climate sadness, environmental despair, and eco-anxiety are faces of awareness-induced anxiety.”

“Our feelings and responses to the climate and ecological emergencies are no different, and people reporting eco-distress understandably feel multiple emotions, changing over time, because they see the threats, losses and betrayals that are part of the crises (Pihkala, 2022).”

“szám (2023) Commonly influencing pro-environmental behavior, eco-emotions are usually thought of as negative emotions such as grief, anxiety, solastalgia (emotional distress caused by environmental change), disgust, shame, and many others as well as additional emotions considered more motivational such as pride and de…”

“…footprints, being at least partly responsible for climate change and the Anthropocene condition” (Bruhn 2018, 66) or even the “ecological shame felt simply because one belongs to a human race which one deems to be shamefully destructive toward the more-than-human world” (Pihkala 2022, 14).”