“You’re Asking Me to Put into Words Something That I Don’t Put into Words.”: Climate Grief and Older Adult Environmental Activists

ABSTRACT

Globally, climate change is leading to environmental crises, which activists have been fighting against for decades. Social scientists have rarely considered older adults as environmentalists and their feelings about climate change. Most studies focus on younger people’s emotions or concerns about environmental crises. The purpose of this study is to explore the emotional responses and coping strategies related to environmental degradation of older adult environmental activists. We conducted a qualitative research study with 20 participants who were over the age of 60 years, engaged in environmentalism and living in Kansas, USA. We utilized thematic analysis to identify the following themes: a) Emotional Experiences of Environmental Destruction, b) Destruction of Specific Landscapes, and c) Coping Strategies including Environmental Justice Activism. Despite navigating the emotions of loss and grief in response to the destruction of specific places and certain political concerns, often without the language or concepts of environmental grief, these participants have and continue to direct their efforts toward protecting the environment. They have contributed for decades in the hopes of preserving the Earth for future generations and eagerly seek engagement with younger activists to both share grief, and, more importantly, do the work that needs to be done.

KEYWORDS:

• climate change
• loss
• grief
• anxiety
• coping
• environmental justice
• older adults

Acknowledgments

The authors do not report data and therefore the pre-registration and data availability requirements are not applicable. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

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Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.