Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T11:09:55.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Educators’ experiences and strategies for responding to ecological distress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2020

Blanche Verlie Open the ORCID record for Blanche Verlie [Opens in a new window] ,
Emily Clark ,
Tamara Jarrett  and
Emma Supriyono
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research is increasingly identifying the issues of ecological distress, eco-anxiety and climate grief. These painful experiences arise from heightened ecological knowledge and concern, which are commonly considered to be de facto aims of environmental education. Yet little research investigates the issues of climate change anxiety in educational spaces, nor how educators seek to respond to or prevent such emotional experiences. This study surveyed environmental educators in eastern Australia about their experiences and strategies for responding to their learners’ ecological distress. Educators reported that their students commonly experienced feeling overwhelmed, hopeless, anxious, angry, sad and frustrated when engaging with ecological crises. Educators’ strategies for responding to their learners’ needs included encouraging students to engage with their emotions, validating those emotions, supporting students to navigate and respond to those emotions and empowering them to take climate action. Educators felt that supporting their students to face and respond to ecological crises was an extremely challenging task, one which was hindered by time limitations, their own emotional distress, professional expectations, society-wide climate denial and a lack of guidance on what works.

Keywords

hopeanxietygriefsupportresiliencecopingyouth
Type
Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 132 - 146
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affifi, R., & Christie, B. (2019). Facing loss: Pedagogy of death. Environmental Education Research, 25(8), 1143–1157. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2018.1446511 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albrecht, G. (2011). Chronic environmental change: Emerging ‘psychoterratic’ syndromes. In Weissbecker, I. (ed.), Climate change and human well-being (pp. 43–56). New York, NY: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amsler, S.S. (2011). From ‘therapeutic’ to political education: The centrality of affective sensibility in critical pedagogy. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 47–63. doi: 10.1080/17508487.2011.536512 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, D.A., Lickel, B., & Markowitz, E.M. (2017). Reassessing emotion in climate change communication. Nature Climate Change, 7(12), 850–852. doi: 10.1038/s41558-017-0021-9 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cianconi, P., Betrò, S., & Janiri, L. (2020). The impact of climate change on mental health: A systematic descriptive review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11(74), 1–15. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00074 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corner, A., Roberts, O., Chiari, S., Völler, S., Mayrhuber, E.S., Mandl, S., & Monson, K. (2015). How do young people engage with climate change? The role of knowledge, values, message framing, and trusted communicators. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 6(5), 523–534. doi: 10.1002/wcc.353 Google Scholar
Cunsolo Willox, A. (2012). Climate change as the work of mourning. Ethics & The Environment, 17(2), 137–164. doi: 10.2979/ethicsenviro.17.2.137 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Rousell, D. (2019). Education for what? Shaping the field of climate change education with children and young people as co-researchers. Children’s Geographies, 17(1), 90–104. doi: 10.1080/14733285.2018.1467556 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupler, D. (2015). On the future of hope. Journal of Sustainability Education, 10, 1–5.Google Scholar
Ecclestone, K., & Hayes, D. (2008). The dangerous rise of therapeutic education. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Grauer, S.R. (2020). Climate change: The thief of childhood. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(7), 42–46. doi: 10.1177/0031721720917541 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, K., Blashki, G., Wiseman, J., Burke, S., & Reifels, L. (2018). Climate change and mental health: Risks, impacts and priority actions. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(1), 28–40. doi: 10.1186/s13033-018-0210-6 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Head, L. (2016). Hope and grief in the Anthropocene: Re-conceptualising human–nature relations. New York, NY and Milton Park: Taylor & Francis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, B.C., Feldman, A., & Vernaza-Hernandez, V. (2017). Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 15(3), 451–471. doi: 10.1007/s10763-015-9706-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, R. (2019). Student agency around climate action: A curriculum response. Ethos, 27(3), 9–14.Google Scholar
Hornsey, M.J., & Fielding, K.S. (2016). A cautionary note about messages of hope: Focusing on progress in reducing carbon emissions weakens mitigation motivation. Global Environmental Change, 39, 26–34. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hufnagel, E. (2017). Attending to emotional expressions about climate change: A framework for teaching and learning. In Shepardson, D.P., Roychoudhury, A., & Hirsch, A.S. (Eds.), Teaching and learning about climate change: A framework for educators (pp. 59–71). New York, NY and Milton Park: Routledge.Google Scholar
IPCC. (2018). Global warming of 1.5°C: Summary for policy makers. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/ Google Scholar
Kelsey, E. (2017). Propagating collective hope in the midst of environmental doom and gloom. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 23–40.Google Scholar
Kristin, H., & Dilshani, S. (2018). Climate change skepticism as a psychological coping strategy. Sociology Compass, 12(6), 1–10. doi: 10.1111/soc4.12586 Google Scholar
Lehtonen, A., Salonen, A.O., & Cantell, H. (2019). Climate change education: A new approach for a world of wicked problems. In Cook, J.W. (Ed.), Sustainability, human well-being, and the future of education (pp. 339–374). Cham: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, C., & Monroe, M.C. (2018). Development and validation of the climate change hope scale for high school students. Environment and Behavior, 50(4), 454–479 doi: 10.1177/0013916517708325 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, C.J., & Monroe, M.C. (2019). Exploring the essential psychological factors in fostering hope concerning climate change. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 936–954. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2017.1367916 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloro-Bidart, T., & Semenko, K. (2017). Toward a feminist ethic of self-care for environmental educators. The Journal of Environmental Education, 48(1), 18–25. doi: 10.1080/00958964.2016.1249324 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lombardi, D., & Sinatra, G.M. (2013). Emotions about teaching about human-induced climate change. International Journal of Science Education, 35(1), 167–191. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2012.738372 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active hope: How to face the mess we’re in without going crazy. Novato, CA: New World Library.Google Scholar
Manning, C., & Clayton, S. (2018). Threats to mental health and wellbeing associated with climate change. In Clayton, S. & Manning, C. (Eds.), Psychology and climate change (pp. 217–244). London, San Diego CA, Cambridge MA and Oxford: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monroe, M.C., Plate, R.R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W.A. (2017). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791–812. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2017.1360842 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moser, S.C. (2012). Getting real about it: Meeting the psychological and social demands of a world in distress. In Gallagher, D.R. (Ed.), Environmental leadership (pp. 900–908). Los Angeles CA, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washing DC: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Moss, S.A., & Wilson, S.G. (2015). The prevailing origin of psychological problems in young people: a dissociation from the future. Issues in Social Science, 3(1), 15–34. doi: 10.5296/iss.v3i1.6768 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nairn, K. (2019). Learning from young people engaged in climate activism: The potential of collectivizing despair and hope. YOUNG, 27(5), 435–450. doi: 10.1177/1103308818817603 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norgaard, K.M. (2011). Living in denial: Climate change, emotions, and everyday life. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojala, M. (2012a). Regulating worry, promoting hope: How do children, adolescents, and young adults cope with climate change? International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 7(4), 537–561.Google Scholar
Ojala, M. (2012b). Hope and climate change: The importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people. Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 625–642. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2011.637157 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojala, M. (2015). Hope in the face of climate change: Associations with environmental engagement and student perceptions of teachers’ emotion communication style and future orientation. The Journal of Environmental Education, 46(3), 133–148. doi: 10.1080/00958964.2015.1021662 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojala, M. (2016). Facing anxiety in climate change education: From therapeutic practice to hopeful transgressive learning. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 41–56.Google Scholar
Oversby, J. (2015). Teachers’ learning about climate change education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 167, 23–27. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.637 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfautsch, S., & Gray, T. (2017). Low factual understanding and high anxiety about climate warming impedes university students to become sustainability stewards: An Australian case study. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(7), 1157–1175. doi: 10.1108/IJSHE-09-2016-0179 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pihkala, P. (2017). Environmental education after sustainability: Hope in the midst of tragedy. Global Discourse, 7(1), 109–127. doi: 10.1080/23269995.2017.1300412 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pihkala, P. (2018). Eco-anxiety, tragedy, and hope: Psychological and spiritual dimensions of climate change. Zygon, 53(2), 545–569. doi: 10.1111/zygo.12407 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pihkala, P. (2019). Climate anxiety. Helsinki: MIELI Mental Health Finland.Google Scholar
Ray, S. (2018). Coming of age at the end of the world: The affective arc of undergraduate environmental studies curricula. In Bladow, K. & Ladino, J. (Eds.), Affective ecocriticism: Emotion, embodiment, environment (pp. 219–399). London and Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Reid, A. (2019). Climate change education and research: possibilities and potentials versus problems and perils? Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 767–790. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2019.1664075 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, C., & Oakley, J. (2016). Engaging the emotional dimensions of environmental education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 13–22.Google Scholar
Siperstein, J. (2015). Finding hope and gratitude in the climate change classroom. Journal of Sustainability Education, 10, 1–17.Google Scholar
Stevenson, K., & Peterson, N. (2016). Motivating action through fostering climate change hope and concern and avoiding despair among adolescents. Sustainability, 8(6), 1–10. doi: 10.3390/su8010006 Google Scholar
Strife, S.J. (2012). Children’s environmental concerns: Expressing ecophobia. The Journal of Environmental Education, 43(1), 37–54. doi: 10.1080/00958964.2011.602131 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swim, J.K., & Fraser, J. (2013). Fostering hope in climate change educators. Journal of Museum Education, 38(3), 286–297. doi: 10.1080/10598650.2013.11510781 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S.E., & Stanton, A.L. (2007). Coping resources, coping processes, and mental health. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 3(1), 377–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tschakert, P., Ellis, N.R., Anderson, C., Kelly, A., & Obeng, J. (2019). One thousand ways to experience loss: A systematic analysis of climate-related intangible harm from around the world. Global Environmental Change, 55, 58–72. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.006 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNESCO. 1977. Tbilisi Declaration:Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education. Retrieved from https://www.gdrc.org/uem/ee/Tbilisi-Declaration.pdf Google Scholar
Verlie, B. (2019a). Bearing worlds: Learning to live-with climate change. Environmental Education Research, 25(5), 751–766. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2019.1637823 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verlie, B. (2019b). “Climatic-affective atmospheres”: A conceptual tool for affective scholarship in a changing climate. Emotion, Space and Society, 33, 100623. doi: 10.1016/j.emospa.2019.100623 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verplanken, B., & Roy, D. (2013). “My worries are rational, climate change is not”: Habitual ecological worrying is an adaptive response. PLoS ONE, 8(9), 1–6. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074708 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehouse, H. (2017). Point and counterpoint: climate change education. Curriculum Perspectives, 37(1), 63–65. doi: 10.1007/s41297-017-0011-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar