On Friday 28th June, around 40 PhDs, ECRs and academics attended The Politics of Emotions in the Net Zero Transition conference – the inaugural event co-hosted between the BSA and EnGRG. The event was brilliantly coordinated by Pancho Lewis.
The day opened with two informative and insightful keynotes which set the tone for the day. Professor Matthew Paterson (University of Manchester) discussed “Rhetoric and populism in contemporary climate politics”, whilst Dr Mel Rohse presented their work on “Emotions and affect in everyday experiences of energy system change”. These presentations got to the heart of the topics being discussed throughout the day, with Mel pointing out the sessions that would be engaging with similar ideas. This was particularly useful for participants as it helped them to decide which sessions to attend!
Over the course of the day, a total of 6 sessions took place: 1) Contentious infrastructures, 2) Hope, experience, and attachment, 3) Engagement and the arts, 4) Challenging net zero and green imaginaries, 5) Future economies and politics, and 6) Domestic heating. The presentations outlined cutting-edge research on the themes of the conference, with presentations covering topics ranging from low-traffic neighbourhoods, to environmental activism, to rewilding practices. A range of methodologies also presented during the sessions including ethnography, co-creation activities, and creative practices. The diversity across the presentations highlights the breadth of existing research being undertaken on emotions in relation to the net zero transition.
After lunch, Professor Nick Pidgeon gave a presentation on “Place-based sustainable futures in the context of global uncertainty”, summarising the wealth of research he has been involved with on risk.
The final session of the day provided a reflective space, and the opportunity to think across different sessions. The prompt of “surprising/unexpected connections” led to insightful group discussions on key takeaways. Points shared as part of this plenary session included the performative nature of emotions, and the importance of looking beyond language to understand deeper emotional drivers.
Participants reflected on the co-existence of seemingly contradictory emotions such as hope and resentment in relation to particular topics, and emphasised the importance of ensuring there is space for all these emotions within research.
This led to another important point, which is that there are multiple ways of approaching, understanding and articulating the politics and emotions of climate change. The diverse ways in which the politics of emotions can be researched was highlighted through the range of disciplines present at the conference, including Psychology, Human Geography and Politics.
From a more research-focused perspective, this final reflective session saw participants comment on the importance of considering positionality when undertaking research, addressing the temporality of emotions, and being mindful of the politics of expectations related to activities undertaken.
The entire day was informative, inspiring and, ultimately, very interesting! There was a positive response to the one-day conference from participants, and calls for further activities to be organised, so watch this space!
Reflections from the event coordinator, Pancho Lewis:
Thank you to everyone who came to the conference, both to speakers and attendees. There was a really nice vibe on the day, with plenty of opportunities to have engaging, insightful conversations with colleagues.
One thing that crystallised for me on the day is the affective interplay between climate as an abstraction, and climate as an issue that increasingly affects people in concrete ways.
On the one hand, climate remains dependent on projections, for example predictions of increasing global temperatures, potential tipping points, etc. This came up in different talks, including those that discussed eco-anxiety in people’s lives.
On the other hand, climate increasingly manifests materially in people’s lives, as a result of changes being made to infrastructures (e.g., new renewable energy provision, changes to transport systems), as well as the increasing frequency with which we confront extreme weather events. There were plenty of talks which examined both these issues, giving colourful illustrations both of contentious infrastructures and the way communities are increasingly confronting climate-induced stress, like living in housing which overheats and poses a serious risk to people’s lives.
I think that an important area for further research is to continue to think carefully about the affective interplay between climate change as an issue that fluctuates between projection and concrete realisation. Seen as such, we can begin to understand why climate is a phenomena that affects our emotional states in such strange, unpredictable ways. As some hinted at through their talks, this fraught dynamic will only intensify in the years to come.
There’s a lot more that could be said. For now, I want to stress the importance of remaining attentive to the issues we discussed at the conference. There’s a lot more important work to do, both to advance academic research and to work collaboratively with policy partners and practitioners to help advance climate mitigation and adaptation. I think we can only achieve these goals by genuinely placing emotions and affect centre-stage of our work.
I look forward to continuing to work with attendees and others on this vital topic.
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