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Emotions are highly relevant in European climate politics under polycrisis. Climate disorder goes hand in hand with socioeconomic precariousness and a return of militarism and geopolitics. This fuels political instability and intertwines with the rise of far-right politics. Climate policy backsliding is also increasing in the EU, and policies and action on climate change and around sustainability transitions are frequently contested and opposed.
Emotions like uncertainty, fear and resentment, sparked by precariousness, crisis and the (perceived) loss of privilege play an important role in this context. It is argued that denialist and populist politics “speak to people’s gut” and lead towards “irrational” choices. Climate and environmental advocacy thus largely rely on rational and scientific arguments to show reliability.
Nevertheless, climate emotions involve much more than reactive stances: they fuel protests and their communication, sustain day-to-day engagement in transformative projects, infuse morality and practices of care, and create bonds of solidarity between human and non-human beings. Without emotions, environmental politics might be altogether void. Inspired by feminist and decolonial contributions to political science, environmental sociology, political ecology, social movement studies, and critical geography, we propose that emotions may have the potential to innovate in the politics of climate and environmental justice. Instead of sidelining and dismissing the difficult emotions that arise in periods of crisis, taking them seriously and building spaces for the elaboration of loss and the imagination of possible liveable futures might – for example – enable a reawakening of participatory democracy.
We invite contributions that engage in a critical dialogue with this proposal, showing the progressive and regressive effects of emotions for climate democracy. Suggested topics include – but are not limited to:
- The role of emotions in EJ/CJ conflicts, especially with regards to MAPA;
- Media and the rhetorical use of emotions;
- Affective mobilisation in far-right politics;
- The emotional dynamics of contentious climate activism;
- Practices of emotional management in democratic innovation and prefiguration;
- Feminist and decolonial perspectives;
- Comparative assessments of emotions in climate politics between Global North/Global South;
- Affective qualities of prefigurative ecological politics;
- Methodological and theoretical challenges in studying climate emotions.