The study takes Sweden as a case study to investigate how citizens (N=1,237) perceive their everyday life and future, and the implications for their sense of responsibility, agency, and political engagement. Results show that both individual and public climate actions are perceived as leading to improved wellbeing. Citizens also show optimism about the prospects of a sustainable future. Negative emotions such as climate anxiety and frustration over a perceived lack of fairness limit people’s willingness to act, whilst positive emotions and inner qualities such as human–nature connections and hope, support political engagement. For some, climate change represents a disruption they take as an opportunity to break habits and recraft their lifestyles in new directions. However, for most, making changes often conflicts with the general incentivised lifestyle (e.g. about consumption) and the space to act is seemingly experienced as quite narrow. Many people wish for more accessible ways to engage with climate change issues while calling for heightened responsibilities of large corporations and governments
Read the full paper (open access) published in the Climate Policy Journal.
