Climate Emotions and Environmental Activism

Workshop Climate Emotions and Environmental Activism

17 June 2026, University College Dublin

D520, UCD Newman Building, Department of Philosophy

• Registration link (necessary for Zoom Link)
• Full Schedule link

The climate crisis is worsening before our eyes. After another year of record heat, climate scientist recently warned that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) faces much more significant risk of collapse than previously thought due to global warming. One of the major global tipping points, the collapse of the stream not only risks turning the Atlantic from a carbon sink into a source of further carbon emissions, but also likely means civilisational devastation for most of Europe and North Africa. 

At the same time, the climate and environmental crisis has moved to the background of global attention, and the global climate movement has not managed to maintain or restore the global attention needed to pressure governments and corporation for change. Many within the climate movement feel overwhelmed with emotional exhaustion and tactical disorientation, and the need to figure out what is to be done next.

In this moment, philosophy can play a critical role in examining the emotional life of activists within the struggle against climate and environmental breakdown, what role emotions play within a global social movement, and how emotions inform, shape and motivate the activism pushing for change. This workshop examines climate emotions specifically in their role for climate and environmental action, and invites everyone interested in the philosophy of the climate crisis to attend.

Schedule (Irish Times): 
10:00-11:00 Wendy Xin (Sydney): Awe and Environmental Activism beyond Elitism
11:00-12:00 Rachel Cripps (Toronto): Fear Appeals, Vulnerability, and the Psychological Burden of Climate Change
12:00-13:00 Molly Dea-Stephenson (McGill): Ecotage and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: On Defensive Justification of Putatively Hopeless Climate Activism
14:30-15:30 Mary E. Witlacil (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology): Burning Out on Hope: Climate Activism in a World on Fire
15:30-16:30 Frida Ekelund (Independent) & Olivia Nielsen (Bremen): ‘Climate Fools’ and ‘Eco-terrorists’ - On Danish Media’s Silencing of Environmental Activists
17:00-18:00 Finlay Malcolm (Manchester): On Acting from Environmental Loss: Ecological Grief and Environmental Action
18:00-19:00 Jakob Huber (FU Berlin): Democracy and the Crisis of Hope

The one-day workshop on 17 June will be followed by a book workshop on 18 June, on my book manuscript titled “It’s Okay to Despair about Climate Change – Militant Pessimism in the face of Climate Breakdown”. Participants are not required to, but are warmly invited to attend.