Studying the students

This research project aimed to investigate deeper the link between images of the future and climate emotions, recently put forward in climate conversations. The aim was to investigate the current images of the environment and the desired narratives of the future shared by a cross-cultural group of undergraduate students at Tamkang University, Taiwan.

The information was gathered with a survey (that included drawing). Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) was also used to guide youngsters to look into the conventional conceptions of climate change, identify the stakeholders involved in possible climate actions, and question their place in it.

"The time horizon of 2060 was chosen to give the students enough runway to break from business-as-usual climate change visions, to something that could be remarkable and transformative."

Answers to the survey

Concerns about the current and future state of climate

The first two questions of the survey asked the students how they were viewing the current (2019) and future (2060) state of the environment and climate change.

The CLA showed that the students were very concerned with the health of the planet and were quite sensitive to the feeling of urgency for climate action. Here are some of the metaphors expressed by them to describe it: "moment of change", "now or never", "big hole everyone tries to mend", "elephant in the room", "a train that is halfway to hell".

Images of preferred futures for 2060

Answering, by writing and drawing, the question about their preferred futures for 2060, students elaborated a variety of narratives. The research team sorted them out in five categories: Altered City, Technology Improvements, Environmental Quality, Relocation and "Others" to gather all the non-fitting stories.

"The majority of students (49%; n=38) envisioned their preferred future as an altered city landscape that included solar panels, electric cars, wind farms and other uses of green technology."

Being at the centre of the narratives or being tools to achieve these images of futures, technology and science are a major parts of student's preferred scenarios. Science was even perceived as having a greater role in the transformations to come than politicians : "AI will be extremely well developed at that time", "more scientific discoveries and technologies will happen in the future" and "with advanced technology everything can be built to an advanced level".

Some other students were less optimistic about the possibility of achieving their preferred scenarios. Most of these students came from the Pacific Islands and talked about their conflicting emotions concerning their homeland: "Kiribati is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Based on what I have seen and learned, my preferred future cannot happen unless we take action right away"; "With technology advancing everyday, homes surrounded by forest or by the ocean won't be an option. My country (Marshall Islands) is one of many that face the threat of sea level rising" and "advanced countries focus their research on electronic machines".