0.6.2 Support students’ motivation to learn about climate change while nurturing their psychological well being

Psychologist Maria Ojala (2018-19) explains that there are some usual coping patterns among young people regarding climate and eco-anxiety: 

1. a) de-emphasising or denying the threat (more common in boys); 
2. b) distancing themselves from negative emotions through distraction or avoidance; 
3. c) trying to individually do something in one’s own life to help solve the problem, e.g. stop eating meat (more common in girls).

According to Ojala’s research none of these strategies are particularly conducive to learning about climate change and they don’t promote engagement and wellbeing.

As a solution scientist Susan Folkman proposes fostering meaning-focused coping strategies, which research has shown to create more engagement and wellbeing (Ojala, 2018-19). One such strategy is positive re-appraisal, which is about being able to acknowledge the seriousness of the climate problem, but also being able to switch perspectives and see positive trends, no matter how small. Another meaning-focused strategy is trust, e.g. “[t]o have faith that other, more powerful, actors will also do their part can help young people to feel that their own engagement matters” (Ojala, 2018-19, pp. 13).

Another constructive strategy is prefigurative politics where people bring about societal change by creating alternative social relations and practices locally instead of confronting power structures directly, thus invoking hope within themselves that they can slowly erode the current, unsustainable order. This is related to working together as a community and collectively finding ways to engage in/with political decision-making or local actions (Ojala, 2018-19).