My colleague Catharina Lüder just published this great piece on “Climate-sensing with Trees: How Sensing Comes to Matter in Central Germany” with Weather Matters, building on research we published together in Environment and Planning F (pre-print).

She writes:

When I interviewed council workers and urban planners on their everyday encounters with climate change, scientific evidence was one dominant lead for them to find locally feasible options for dealing with climate change impacts, such as heat in cities. Another point of reference were their own bodily experiences of heat and drought together with visible signs of brown-leaved trees. They sensed climate through a combination of experiences and measurements.

Apparently, the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) has been calculating an “environmental affect” score since 2018, measuring how people respond to environmental change emotionally. The score is calculated based on responses to the following questions:

  1. Anthropogenic environmental problems such as the deforestation or the plastic in the oceans outrage me.
  2. I am delighted when people simply try out sustainable lifestyles.
  3. It worries me when I think about the environmental conditions we are leaving behind for future generations.
  4. Climate change also threatens our livelihoods here in Germany.
  5. It makes me angry when I see that Germany is failing to meet its climate protection targets.
  6. I get annoyed when environmentalists want to tell me how I should live.
  7. When it comes to the consequences of climate change, many things are greatly exaggerated.

All these add to a Taxonomy of Climate Emotions. Some questions are added year-on-year. Perhaps the next questionnaire will measure grief as well.