Overlooked dimensions: Emotions in environmental movements and green politics

Why do emotions matter in environmental movements? This question drove me to write my new book, ‘Unraveling Emotions in Environmental Movements and Green Politics: From Passion to Action’. Although International Relations (IR) has a wide scope of research, the issues of environment and climate, and the role of emotions within these issues have been overlooked. In this book, I therefore aim to synthesize the literatures of emotions in IR and Social Movements Studies in order to reveal the hidden motivations, and manifestations of different feelings about climate change and environmental politics.

The essence of this book derives from my concern about the contemporary problems of the environment and climate change. It was while I was watching a documentary series by David Attenborough, that I realised how powerful emotions are when thinking about nature and the Earth. I also realised that my concern is not only individual but collective, as these problems are affecting various communities across different places in the world. Thus, dealing with global climate struggles require a strong collective identity, solidarity, and connectivity and unity amongst different communities.

This book explores how emotions encourage individuals to participate in environmental movements and affect the strategies employed, networks formed, and the overall significance of these movements in politics. I define emotions as “catalysts for collective action” because emotions are powerful triggers for activism in environmental movements, playing a crucial role in catalysing and diffusing activism across places, cities, and countries.

When looking at past and contemporary environmental movements, emotions are indispensable elements. In the book I analyse emotions such as fear, anxiety, and hope which are both interconnected and contradictory, often working together to drive resistance. These emotions also shape climate anxiety and climate justice, leading to the construction of collective identity and solidarity within environmental movements. This emotional range encompasses worry, sadness, grief, anger, anxiety, frustration, panic and shock, as well as hope.

Questioning emotional responses to environmental change

In my book I ask a number of questions about peoples’ emotional responses to environmental change. My research focuses on people in all their diversity—different communities, Indigenous peoples, young people, and humanity as a whole. Here, “all” signifies an inclusive understanding of humanity as part of a shared planetary existence with other forms of life. The collective nature of emotional responses served as the primary driving force behind this research.

What are we afraid of? We are mainly afraid of ecological threats.  We are afraid of the annihilation of nature, including animals and forests. We fear extinction of our livelihoods, natural resources, and lands. We fear climate change and its consequences, which is an uncertain future. Our fear mainly stems from Solastalgia, the loss of solace and sense of losing home environment and planet, as Glenn Abrecht defines. The sense of losing and fear also align with anger in environmental activism which is an impulse for collective identity.

Why are we so anxious? Because we are anxious about climate change, uncertainty about the future, and likely scenarios about the world’s ending. Hence, envisioning an uncertain future or even the end of the world—such as scenarios associated with Doomsday—is sufficient to generate anxiety, shock, and insecurity. As a result, individuals experience heightened anxiety and begin to demand that such processes be halted. Environmental movements emerge from this complex mix of emotions, driven primarily by anxiety concerning the future, the planet, and nature.

Are we still optimistic about our future? Is there a room for optimism in the context of environmental crises? Yes, but being hopeful is increasingly challenging in the contemporary world, as glaciers melt at alarming rates, forests disappear, fertile lands are transformed into industrial sites, and global temperatures continue to rise by an average of 0.06°C per decade since 1850,  with 2023 as the warmest year on record and 2025 currently ranking as the second warmest.

Conclusion

The complexity of the emotions of environmental movements is growing day by day. Since the 2000s, Green Politics has become a topic of discussion in IR theoretical debates. However, the role of emotions and the integration of emotions within environmental movements into Green Politics have been largely overlooked.

Green Theory goes beyond addressing environmental problems by critically examining their root causes. Through revalorising the “Green Theory of Value” by Robert Goodin, I argue in my book that environmental struggles must be critically analysed through the lens of emotional and ecological interconnections. I emphasize eco-centric principles, planetary values, and the intrinsic worth of nature. Ultimately, challenging traditional political structures, and acknowledging the irreplaceability of nature, I question the future of humanity and all species, and embracing the principle of Green Politics “thinking globally, acting locally!”

Author

Dr Efser Rana Coşkun is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Social Sciences University of Ankara (ASBU). Dr Coşkun is currently the Vice Chair of the ASBU Centre for International Development. She completed her PhD in 2020 in International Relations at Bilkent University. In 2019, she was a student visitor at the University of Oxford, the Department of International Development. Dr Coşkun obtained her MSc degree in International Development from the University of Bristol, and BSc in Global and International Affairs from Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and Binghamton University, USA. Her research interests are Turkey’s development policies, environmental politics, social movements, emotions in International Relations, and humanitarianism. Dr Coşkun’s previous research has appeared in Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Globalizations, and Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change. Dr. Coşkun is the author of "Unraveling Emotions in Environmental Movements and Green Politics: From Passion to Action" (2025), by Palgrave Macmillan.

Takver from Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons