We Need to Do Something About This

Children and Youth's Post-Disaster Views on Climate Change and Environmental Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID2291977
AuthorsCaroline Mcdonald‐harker (0000-0002-6481-448X, Mount Royal University, corresponding author), Emilie M Bassi (0000-0003-0407-3162, University of Alberta), Timothy J Haney (0000-0002-2288-8245, Mount Royal University)
Year2022
Volume92
Issue1
Pages5-33
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0245 • E-ISSN: 1475-682X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/soin.12381
OpenAlexW3042575058
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited50

Research is increasingly uncovering the many ways that individuals affected by disasters change their environmental views in response to their direct experience of such catastrophic events. There is a growing body of research that focuses on adults' environmental views, revealing that they often remain complacent toward environmental problems even after experiencing a disaster. However, very little research examines whether and to what extent children and youth's environmental views shift and change after experiencing a disaster. This article fills this gap by specifically focusing on the environmental views and practices of 83 children and youth between the ages of 5 and 17 years who experienced the 2013 Southern Alberta Flood, the costliest flood disaster in Canadian history. Findings suggest that disaster catalyzes a process of reflexivity in children and youth. Experiencing the flood prompted children and youth to think more about the environment than prior to the flood; contemplate larger environmental issues, such as climate change, as the root cause of the locally experienced flood; and take action, as well as call others to action, to ameliorate climate and environmental problems in their own lives and communities. We discuss the implications these findings have for environmental and disaster education, policies, and practices

Action (physics) · Archaeology · Climate change · Environmental change · Environmental ethics · Environmental sociology · Flood myth · Geography · Political science · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Disaster Management and Resilience · Environmental Education and Sustainability