Does Climate Anger Lead To Climate Activism?
There are many reasons why people have cited feeling anger about climate change and climate inaction, but few studies have explored how climate anger relates to activism. Anger is utilized by activist leaders like Greta Thunberg and collective action groups, but there are other steps people may take in response to their anger (such as making individual changes or voting for certain climate-friendly policies).
To get people actively involved in reducing climate change, it’s important to understand whether anger works as a motivator. Therefore, the authors of this study aimed to investigate the intensity of people’s climate anger and what it is about the issue that makes them angry. Furthermore, because previous research has shown that different emotions lead to different ways of acting, the researchers explored the connection between climate anger and various types of climate change engagement.
The research was conducted in Norway, where the massive oil and gas sector largely defines the country’s climate policy. Emissions from this sector have increased by a staggering 48% since 1990, and previous research suggests that Norwegians commonly consider climate change a distant global problem. Therefore, the authors felt that researching motivators for this audience is important.
The researchers used data from 2,000 respondents who participated in a nationally representative study called the Norwegian Citizen Panel (NCP). The survey asked respondents to indicate how much fear, guilt, hope, and anger they felt about climate change. For those who indicated feeling angry, an open-ended question was provided where respondents described which aspects of climate change made them feel angry. Finally, respondents were asked to self-report the extent to which they felt it was their moral duty to act on climate change and their current engagement in climate change action, including their support of climate-friendly policies, involvement in activism, and making individual lifestyle changes.
The results from the research showed that climate anger was more pronounced in women, younger respondents, and those who identified as politically left. Among those who felt anger about climate change, more than half said that they were angry because of human actions or human qualities — in other words, concerns about the fact that humans aren’t taking action, that human actions are causing climate change, or that humans seem indifferent about it. Another 31% were angry at so-called “responsible agents,” or those such as politicians who can do something about climate change but aren’t doing enough. The authors noted that 10% of anger was “contrarian,” or people who were skeptical about climate change and climate change policies.
Concerning the relationship between climate anger and the various types of action, the results implied that people who felt climate anger were significantly more likely to engage in activism and support climate policies, but anger wasn’t connected to making individual changes. The content of the anger also played a role in climate change engagement: if people felt angry about human (in)action and qualities such as society’s indifference toward the issue, they were more likely to engage in activism, make individual changes, and support climate policies. However, people categorized as “contrarian” were significantly less likely to take part in any climate actions.
Because the respondents were Norwegian, the results don’t necessarily apply on a global scale. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether people are more likely to take climate action because they are angry or whether they become angrier after they become more active in climate change reduction efforts. This relationship could be explored in more detail in future studies.
While anger may be a motivator for climate action, the results of this study suggest that the issue is slightly more nuanced. For example, it’s not just anger but the content of people’s anger that drives them to take certain actions to combat climate change. Therefore, for those who campaign on climate issues, enlisting the public may be more successful if campaign messaging focuses on the lack of action and the skeptical or indifferent attitudes that many people have toward climate change. In other words, emotion can be powerful, but it needs to be harnessed strategically.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102738