13 ways climate activists are angry – how big is it?

Article by Eric Worrell

“…participants who felt angry at others’ inaction and indifference had more symptoms of depression and anxiety. …”

Climate anger can lead to action or despair: researchers find out why

By Samantha Stanley, Ian Walker, Teagan Hogg and Zoe Leviston, The Conversation

…

Our new research surveyed 5,000 Australians and found nearly half (49 per cent) are angry about our warming world. So how do people respond to climate anger?

…

13 types of climate outrage

Clearly, the most common types of anger are directed at the inaction and indifference of others. About 60% of angry participants were angry about what they perceived to be a lack of action and care.

Who is this directed at? Sometimes it's directed at leaders: “The government is lacking action.” Or it's directed at ordinary people who “don't care and aren't willing to help change it.” Businesses or entire countries are also targeted.

The next most common grievance (about 13%) is against those who deny climate change. For example, “There are a lot of people who still think climate change isn’t happening.”

…

What types of anger lead to action?

…

Interestingly, participants who felt angry about others' inaction and indifference had more symptoms of depression and anxiety. But participants who were angry about government inaction and indifference had fewer of these symptoms.

…

Read more: https://phys.org/news/2024-12-climate-anger-action-curdle-despair.html

cited studies;

Forms of anger about climate change in Australia and their relationship to self-reported behaviour, intentions and distress

Author link opens overlay panel

Samantha Stanley ^abZoe Lewiston ^CDL. Hoghouse ^eIan Walker ^{Monetary Authority}

^one Institute for Climate Risk and Response, University of New South Wales, Australia
^Second School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia
^c Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology
^d School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Australia
^e Department of Psychology, University of Canberra, Australia^fMelbourne Center for Behavior Change, University of Melbourne, Australia
^f Melbourne Center for Behavior Change, University of Melbourne, Australia

Received on July 23, 2023, revised on September 16, 2024, accepted on November 20, 2024, published online on November 22, 2024, and recorded version on December 19, 2024.

Handling Editor: Wokje Abrahamse

Highlights

• •We investigate why Australians are angry about climate change.
• • The most common reasons for anger are perceived inaction and apathy.
• • Anger categories are differentially related to behavior, intention, and pain.
• • Anger at government inaction predicts greater government action and less suffering.

abstract

Action on social issues is often motivated by anger. This has been reliably demonstrated in dealing with social inequality, but less so in other issues. We focus on the content of eco-anger, building on emerging research documenting the links between climate anger, environmental action, and psychological distress. Through a sample survey of 5244 Australians, we found that 48.6% at least stated that they were 'some' Angry about climate change. Content analysis of this focus of anger reveals a variety of reasons why people are angry. The most common focus was on others' inaction and apathy towards climate change, followed by anger at deniers and big polluters. We identified 13 main anger categories in the data set. In further exploratory analyses, we examined correlations between forms of anger, self-reported pro-environmental behavior, collective action intentions, and distress. Our results suggest that behavioral engagement with climate change may depend in part on WhyPeople are angry.

Learn more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494424002639?via%3Dihub

Assuming the 49% figure is correct, so 49% of people are angry about climate inaction, then that's a lot of anger, not a lot of action.

There is little sign that those outraged are trying the low-carb lifestyle themselves. For example, the proportion of electric vehicles on Australian roads is well below 49%.

In Australia's most recent election, the Green Party received only 12.2% of the vote. Australia has compulsory voting, and if you don't vote and can't provide a good reason, you can be fined. Only a quarter of these angry people voted for a party fully committed to climate action at any cost.

Clearly, most of these angry people have other priorities, and whatever anger they feel about climate inaction is not as important to them as other priorities, such as continuing to use gas-guzzling cars, or voting green party outside the Party, and the Greens are the most suitable party.

It seems strange to me that all this so-called climate outrage seems to lead to almost no real action. Let us hope that those who are angry can be brightened by the presence of their loved ones on Christmas Day.

Relevant