“This is what I love and this is what’s at risk”: how climate grief revealvalues that inspire climate action

Abstract

Climate grief, including pain and sadness related to climate change and its impacts on life and society, is increasingly recognized in global discourse about climate change and mental health. However, research on coping practices that support well-being and/or galvanize climate action remains limited. This study characterized how recognizing and honoring climate grief improved well-being and connected participants’ to values that motivate climate action. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with adults (n =15) who had attended group-based climate-mental-health programs by Refugia Retreats in Alberta, Canada focused on climate grief. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes from the interviews. Findings show that climate grief connected personal experiences of loss and vulnerability to broader social-ecological issues by emphasizing the impact of climate change on ecological, personal, and collective losses. Interviewees also described a multi-directional relationship between climate grief and positive emotions, wherein attending to grief led to positive emotions, and in some cases positive experiences were accompanied by grief. Interviewees emphasized the value of reframing distressing climate emotions as grief because doing so connected them to love for the world and their desire for positive change. This study deepens our understanding of the psychosocial impacts of climate change and highlights the mobilizing potential of climate grief to connect people with personal values that can inspire climate action.