As years pass, the impacts of climate change are becoming more and more apparent and are manifesting in many terrifying ways. 2024 is the year of El Niño, and we should brace ourselves for the ramifications and unpredictability it will bring. Meanwhile, economic and social stability are also at an all-time low. People around the world are angry about uncertainty, the indifference of their governments, discrimination, conflicts, and growing inequalities. In this context, it is becoming harder for climate change-makers to talk to and engage with communities. The solution, however, isn’t hoping for a “normal” world. It’s to acknowledge the emotional landscape and work with it.
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“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.” The famous words of French philosopher Voltaire have never been more relevant than right now.
Crises ranging from climate change, democratic deterioration, wars, and economic instability are more prevalent and frequent than ever. The word “polycrisis” was seamlessly adopted around the world, and it has become our new normal.
These constant disruptions affect human minds immensely. Gallup’s 2022 Global Rise of Unhappiness Chart pointed out that negative emotions, including anger and worry, are at an all-time high across the world, and they have been on the rise since 2011. From mass pro-abortion protests in Poland to farmers bringing many European cities to a halt in recent weeks, anger has been on the rise. Yet most organisations and changemakers avoid engaging with this incredibly powerful emotion.
In societies, anger is a powerful force that has resulted in and continues to catalyse positive societal change. Revolutions, labour, and human rights struggles and movements have all utilised anger’s power to change the world. This has been the inspiration behind Mindworks Lab’s Anger and Agency Monitor, a tool that measures the changing quality and quantity of anger and agency to help understand and leverage this emotion in campaigns.
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The Anger Monitor shows that overall, anger levels are high, and people are angry about multiple issues simultaneously. Whether “the good side” likes it or not, anger is being utilised. Anger can be destructive, often exploited by populists or extremists for their own agendas. The polarisation fueled by anger and misinformation has the world split.
In the UK, when responding to a question asking which groups or people the respondents felt most anger towards, 31% said climate activists.
The government’s climate legislation is under attack in Germany, and populist leaders have won elections in the Netherlands and Argentina. To level the playing field, it is time for changemakers to start tapping into the potential of constructive anger.
This Monitor puts forth the following recommendations for changemakers working on pressing issues so that they can navigate anger and agency better.
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1. Climate anger means climate action
As we have established, data indicates that people are simultaneously angry about many things. While some of the triggers are impossible for us to address, there is also anger around worthy causes. It is crucial to note that when it comes to climate change, in all countries, a direct link between climate anger and climate action was found. If we are able to stimulate the right kind of anger around climate change, we can mobilise and drive change better.
Building on the ground-breaking work of Myisha Cherry in her book Case For Rage, Mindworks Lab has identified six Anger Types. Constructive anger is the easiest and most effectively engaged of the anger types, and the data indicates that there is a group of people experiencing constructive anger in every country. This, coupled with the climate anger insight, signifies the possibility of focusing climate anger on action strategies.
2. Stop the doomsday messaging
For years, climate activists have been shouting “time is up”. While it is valid, we should question the effectiveness of this approach. Living through a polycrisis also means that you are overwhelmed by constant disruptions. Worry has also increased, while hope has decreased. People strive for a simpler life and are primarily nostalgic about stable times with less volatility and change.
Communicating risks, uncertainty, and demand for faster change overwhelms people’s emotional resilience, driving them into denial. The build-up of different forms of emotional denial around climate change presents an opportunity for populists or adversaries looking to win the hearts and minds of people by supporting their disavowal.
Instead of accentuating risk and faster change, we have to talk about the possibilities of creating more security today and in the future. As security is a widely shared value, we can also communicate these possibilities as “normal” and as something everybody agrees to, creating a new normal of change instead of a radical demand. Being mindful of this, communication reframing is vital if one works on the energy transition, climate adaptation or towards a more equitable society. While it might be tempting to post that ticking clock of 1.5C, it is also key to talk about other aspects.
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3. Empower people and communities
Empowering communities has been a long-term vision for many collectives and organisations. It is now arguably the need of the hour. The overlapping crises are destroying the little agency people used to experience. The sense of familiarity and routine is often disrupted. Disempowerment, personal disempowerment in particular, is creating denial and toxic anger.
Empowerment requires people to take action that has an impact. They need to be able to experience or witness the change. While persuading people to sign a petition or reduce flying might be worthwhile, it should not be misperceived as an empowering action as long as it does not reduce uncertainty or people’s fear. Feeling heard, becoming an energy producer, or adapting to extreme weather conditions can all be ways to empower people. We can start with creating collective agency and improving personal perceptions via adaptation tactics (community kitchens, neighbourhood crisis response groups, etc.) and then push them forward through mitigation.
4. Dialogues, not broadcasts
Information and awareness alone do not lead to change. There is a high degree of climate denial all around us. It is fair to deem that the emotional fabric we have observed – increased worry, powerlessness, pessimism, and intense nostalgia – has already led to a high degree of denial, especially for the anger types that show low personal or political power. Communication must allow people to reconnect with their real feelings and realise their denial. It needs to give them a sense of connection, purpose and genuineness. Amidst the information overload and constant bombardment of narratives, it is pivotal to give people an opportunity to be themselves, to listen and to be heard.
Can We Get Angry More Often?
While unpredictability is the new default, we know two things for sure: more and more crises will emerge, and anger is here to stay. It is time that institutions and civil society learned how to transform this emotion into a constructive energy of change instead of a ticking time bomb of frustration. Climate action needs anger. We need to reorient ourselves today.
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