Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Climate Emotions: Stories from Nevada

Abstract An interdisciplinary team surveyed 1560 Nevadans about their climate concerns. Using qualitative coding of open-ended responses, analysis revealed three aggregate themes in how Nevadans communicated their climate concerns: 1) variation in abstraction related to temporal and spatial proximity of concern, 2) shared concern that the window of opportunity is closing to take meaningful action, and 3) variation in emotional responses including and beyond anxiety. Viewing open-ended responses as forms of narrative sense-making, the data offer additional insights into the power of climate emotions across temporal and spatial scales to create political messages that promote environmental agency instead of fatalism. Significance Statement This study has theoretical and practical implications. Climate emotions research is primarily done within psychology and mental health fields, but it is important to recognize that climate emotions are symbolic constructions that make meaningful a nexus of political, social, and personal beliefs and attitudes. In focusing on how survey respondents express their concerns, we add an important communicative lens to the study of climate emotions, specifically in terms of attending to temporal and spatial scopes of climate emotions. Additionally, the Nevada-based survey addresses how climate anxiety manifests regionally instead of viewing nations as experiencing homogenous emotional states.