Climate emotions and future planning: How climate-engaged adults integrate grief and anxiety into meaningful visions for their future

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As climate change reshapes the ecological, social, and economic foundations of society, it also transforms how individuals feel about, negotiate, and decide upon their futures. Despite this, little research has examined how climate emotions affect future-oriented perceptions and decision-making. We examined how 15 adults from Alberta, Canada who participated in a climate–mental health program about ecological grief described the ways climate change shaped their emotions, perceptions, and decisions about the future. These participants, already engaged with the emotional realities of climate change, offered unique insight into how climate-related emotions and coping practices intersect with future planning. We conducted in-depth interviews focused on emotional experiences of climate change, coping practices, and orientations toward the future. Interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Emotions about climate change strongly influenced participants’ attitudes and decisions about the future. Three themes emerged: 1) Climate change led to a sense of foreboding and distress about the future; 2) Grief and distress for the future heavily factored into life decisions related to parenting, education, and careers; and 3) Participants described how engaging with emotions related to climate change and its future implications led them to clarify their values and seek meaning, purpose, and opportunities to be of service as part of their visions for their lives and futures. Our findings suggest that for some climate-engaged adults with practices for coping with climate distress, grief and anxiety about the future can be part of a generative process of reimagining life and society.

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