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HOPE

Hope is at the core of our actions and a feeling and strength we must bring with us in our work for climate justice. We must create hope with our actions and we must find hope in the actions we see.


Below you find videos, podcasts, research articles, talks and comics. They reflect on the future we must be hopeful for, on grief and hope in the face of climate change, on how we create hope, on hope as being contagious, and on the promotion of hope. 

A Message From the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Illustrated by Molly Crabapple, Written by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Avi Lewis


A film narrated by congresswoman Alenxandria Ocasio-Cortez on what the future could look like if the USA managed the Green New Deal. A video reminding us that the future is not lost and that: “we can be whatever we have the courage to see.”

Link

Climate Crisis Conversations: Climate change, grief and hope

In this podcast, psychotherapist Caroline Hickman discusses with Verity Sharp “why we find it so hard to face climate change, how we can process grief and how falling apart is a vital part of the solution” (climatepsychology.podbean.com)

Caroline Hickmann, Verity Sharp.

Adults failed to take climate action. Meet the young activists stepping up.

By Adrian Horton, Dream McClinton and Lauren Aratani


This article features five American youth activists from the Sunrise Movement. The activists share their stories, what made them be youth climate activists, and what that entails. The article touches on moral clarity, compromises, poverty, and thoughts on living in a future we didn’t fix while we could.

Building personal resilience for research on climate change and biodiversity loss

Chris McGrath, June 2019 - Recording on Plenary Speech


This video is a recording of Dr Chris McGrath at a plenary speech at the School of Earth and Environmental Science higher degree research student conference 2018. Dr McGrath speaks about the balance of hope and realism; the problems of despair and burnout.  Dr McGrath discusses strategies for how researchers can “cope in the face of ongoing inaction on climate change and biodiversity loss."

“And yes, we do need hope..

...of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.”

-Greta Thunberg

By Greta Thunberg at TEDxStockholm: School strike for climate - save the world by changing the rules

By Greta Thunberg at TEDxStockholm

Webcomic on Climate Concerns

Comic by Bird and Moon Comics

A reminder from Greenpeace Australia Pacific that people who are anxious about climate change are not alone.

2040: hope and action in the climate crisis

John Wiseman, Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne, 2019

This article reflects on the balance between “fear and hope; threat and opportunity; naive optimism and paralysing despair” (John Wiseman). In this article, John Wiseman from University of Melbourne addresses the role of hope in the climate crisis. He refers to the new “climate change solutions” film called 2040 and writes that: “while 2040 doesn’t avoid hard truths about the rapidly escalating risks and dangers of the climate emergency, Gameau has made a clear choice to focus his narrative of “fact based dreaming” on stories of hope and action rather than just chaos and catastrophe”. Wiseman continues and writes about the movie that: “The goal is to offer viewers a refreshing and energising change from yet more images of burning forests and melting glaciers” (Wiseman 2019). He reflects on the balance between “fear and hope; threat and opportunity; naive optimism and paralysing despair” (Wiseman 2019).

‘Hope is contagious’ 

With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ​Greta Thunberg:

Emma Brockes, The Guardian, 29th of June 2019

Article covering an online conversation between Greta Thunberg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). A meeting about hope, action, and to dare challenge the system. AOC on hope: “From there I learned that hope is not something that you have. Hope is something that you create, with your actions. Hope is something you have to manifest into the world, and once one person has hope, it can be contagious. Other people start acting in a way that has more hope.”

How Hope and Doubt Affect Climate Change Mobilization

This research article identifies what gives people hope or doubt that the issue of climate change can be solved, and whether hopeful and doubtful appraisals relate to policy support or activism. A good read that focuses on the reasons for hope and doubt and how these feelings connect to political behaviour.

By: Marlon JR, Bloodhart B, Ballew MT, Rolfe-Redding J, Roser-Renouf C, Leiserowitz A and Maibach E (2019) How Hope and Doubt Affect Climate Change Mobilization. Front. Commun. 4:20. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2019.00020, May 2019

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE: Front. Commun., 21 May 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00020 Copyright © 2019 Marlon, Bloodhart, Ballew, Rolfe-Redding, Roser-Renouf, Leiserowitz and Maibach

Regulating worry, promoting hope: How do children, adolescents, and young adults cope with climate change?

This paper, written by Maria Ojala and brought in the International Journal of Environmental & Science Education investigates different coping strategies young people use when navigating worries about climate change and the ways young people promote the feeling of hope in relation to climate change.
About hope: “Since climate change is an existential issue closely related to the future survival of our planet, a sense of hope could be crucial in order to be able to face one’s worry without experiencing reduced well-being and increased feelings of helplessness (see Hicks, 2010; Ojala, 2007).”

Maria Ojala, International Journal of Environmental & Science Education Vol. 7, No. 4, October 2012, 537-561

Paper, 25 pages

ISSN 1306-3065

Copyright © 2012 IJESE http://www.ijese.com/

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