Looking for the emotional footprint of climate change in young people: connections with education, information sources and climate action

Abstract

Understanding the emotional impact of climate change (CC), its education and communication processes on young people is essential to identify what motivates their engagement in climate action. We have analysed the emotional experiences of secondary school students in the south of Spain (N = 1,050) to develop a tool for exploring the emotional impact of CC, and its relationship to processes of climate education, communication and participation among young people. While there is no clear emotional bias towards CC in the overall sample, significant differences in these experiences depend on the variables listed above. Formal education (educational grade and curricular greening) tends to increase worry, powerlessness and fear, and decrease positive emotions. Frequently, the use of information sources, such as traditional media, specialised sources and social networks is associated with higher emotional intensity. Social networks are a powerful influencer, while traditional media and specialised sources present barriers to access. Participating in climate action (climate movements, climate strikes, environmental groups’ activities and school’s voluntary activities) has a clearly negative emotional footprint among the group studied.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• young people
• affect and emotion
• environmental education and information sources
• climate action

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by ‘Educar a tiempo: formación disruptiva y recursos pedagógicos de calidad como catalizadores del cambio climático (RESCLIM@TIEMPO)’ Project, funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, under [Grant PID2022-136933OB-C22]; University of Granada and the Spanish government under [Grant FPU20/03615].