Thinking about the future: Examining the exacerbating and attenuating factors of despair-induced climate burnout

Lucy H. Bird, Emma F. Thomas, Michael Wenzel, Morgana Lizzio-Wilson

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Abstract

“There’s no place for burnout in a burning world” (Wood, 2022)

Bringing about action on the climate crisis takes time and the continued, concerted efforts of supporters. Social change movements, including the climate justice movement, often face opposition, setbacks, and failures (Lizzio-Wilson et al., 2021; Louis et al., 2022). As such, for the movement to be sustained through hard times, we need people to maintain their commitment to the cause. However, often people cannot maintain their commitment due to experiencing intense, negative emotions like eco-anxiety (Stanley et al., 2021), or a lack of efficacy (van Zomeren et al., 2008). Burnout is another relevant factor in explaining why people disengage from social change movements (e.g., Chen & Gorski, 2015; Vandermeulen et al., 2023). Conceptually, burnout is defined by two distinct components (Demerouti et al., 2003). The first is exhaustion, capturing experiences of feeling drained and weary. The second component relates to disengagement, which involves distancing oneself from the stressor (in this case, action to combat climate change; Demerouti et al., 2003). Burnout can have adverse impacts for mental health (i.e., detrimental to individuals; Maslach & Leiter, 2016) but may also lead to disengagement from social change movements (i.e., detrimental for society; Chen & Gorski, 2015). Accordingly, applying the concept of burnout to climate change suggests that one feels emotionally worn out due to the immense challenges posed by climate change (exhaustion); and have a desire to withdraw from the movement due to the overwhelming challenges the movement faces (disengagement)...
Original languageEnglish
Article number102382
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Environmental Psychology
Volume98
Early online date22 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2024

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • exhaustion
  • climate burnout
  • disengagement

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