The Emotional Toll of Climate Change on Science Professionals

Gilford, Daniel; Moser, Susanne C.; DePodwin, Becky; Moulton, Rebecca; Watson, Sarah M.

doi:10.1029/2019eo137460

Cited by 15 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Recent budget constraints within the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), political concerns, and devastating landfalling hurricanes have contributed, as has the meteorological profession shifting to an "always-on mentality with the emergence of social media and changing of job requirements (Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017;Florence and Michael in 2018;Dorian in 2019). Recent research (Bolton, Ault, Greenberg, & Baron-Cohen, 2018;Worley, 2020) and anecdotal discussion have cascaded, bringing about a culture shift from stigmatized views of on-job mental health to an environment that welcomes and encourages such discourse (e.g., panel discussions at the 2019 National Weather Association [NWA] and 2020 American Meteorological Society Annual Meetings; Bolton, 2018;Bolton & DePodwin, 2019, 2020Gilford, Moser, DePodwin, Moulton, & Watson, 2019;Milrad, 2016;Zee, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

Weathering the Storms: Workplace Wellbeing, Mental Health, and the U.S. Meteorologist

Bolton

Ault

2020

IJURCA

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Mental health is a topic of increasing interest and concern across the weather enterprise amidst a backdrop of funding cuts, extreme storms, and longer, more involved work hours. The present study therefore investigated wellbeing in the meteorological workplace. Participants (N= 389), professional meteorologists (n = 360) and professionally-employed meteorology students (n = 29), voluntarily participated in a Qualtrics-hosted online survey and responded to a number of measures representing a broad range of mental health variables. These individuals fell into three employment sectors: U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), Broadcast (television weather), and Other (a combination of academic, private sector, military, and non-NWS operational meteorologists). Individual differences emerged between meteorological sectors in personality and the subjective wellbeing domains of burnout, job satisfaction, and anxiety. Broadcasters were significantly more burnt-out at work and personally, were higher in extraversion, and were highest in anxiety. NWS meteorologists were most burnt-out in working with partners. The Other category of meteorologists showed more agreeableness and greater job satisfaction than broadcasters and those in the NWS. There was no cross-sector difference, however, in traits that might be relatively uniform among meteorologists: Grit, life satisfaction, self-concept clarity, subjective happiness, stress, and depression. Results are discussed in terms of consequences for meteorologists' mental health and emotional wellbeing as well as the future of the field.

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confidence: 99%

Weathering the Storms: Workplace Wellbeing, Mental Health, and the U.S. Meteorologist

Bolton

Ault

2020

IJURCA

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“…For ‘alarmist’ metaphors may reduce our ability to engage collaboratively on sustainable solutions due to neurophysiological processes involved in associative learning linking thoughts with autonomic states ( 24 ). Metaphors that rely on an alarmist or ‘risk reduction’ framework ( 19 ) may be useful in the short term to capture people’s attention, but can become detrimental by maintaining people in a state of vigilance from which they will grow fatigued ( 38 ), as they did with prolonged covid-19 precautionary measures.…”

Section: Method Main Sources and Overview Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

On proposing relational environmental metaphors to stimulate engagement and foster well-being in the midst of climate change

Bellehumeur,

Carignan

2024

Front. Psychiatry

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Messages regarding climate change that are intended to stimulate responsible engagement can impact our mental health in both positive and negative ways, which in turn can increase or limit the potential engagement being sought through those very messages. Increasingly alarmist environmental metaphors are being brought into question due to their possibly detrimental impact on mental health and well-being, and in their place, relational environmental metaphors are proffered to instill hopeful and constructive individual and collective engagement for responsible climate action. This article discusses how both alarmist and relational environmental metaphors interact with eco-emotions. It proposes, in light of concepts arising from Porges’ Polyvagal Theory − on the psychophysiology of autonomic states created in contexts of threatening cues and feelings of safety and connection −, that relational environmental metaphors are preferable for stimulating responsible collective engagement and fostering global well-being in the midst of climate change.

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“…climate change, has long been the focus of debate (Gilford et al. 2019 ; Head and Harada 2017 ). Concerns have been raised that being personally affected leads to loss of critical distance for scientific analysis.…”

Section: Meta-level Reflection: What Can Sustainability Research Lear...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to reflect on sustainability research

Nölting

König

Zimmermann

et al. 2022

NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum

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The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted societies out of normality, possibly creating new conditions for sustainability transformations. What does this mean for sustainability research? Because of the scope of the crisis, researchers have been heavily involved: not only have they had to speed up the pace of scientific production to provide urgently needed COVID-19 knowledge, but they have also been affected citizens. For sustainability science, this calls for an experience-based reflection on the positionality and orientation of research aiming to support sustainability transformations. Twenty sustainability researchers discussed their sustainability research on COVID-19 in three workshops based on the following questions: How does the pandemic—and the measures taken to deal with it—affect sustainable development? What can we learn from the pandemic from the perspective of societal transformation? The present discussion paper emerged from this multidisciplinary exchange among sustainability researchers, considering five topics: impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on sustainability transformations; learning for sustainability transformations; the role of solidarity; governance and political steering; and the role of science in society. Our discussions led to a meta-level reflection on what sustainability research can learn from research on COVID-19 regarding topics and disciplinary angles, time dimensions, the role of researchers, and how adequate preparation for both crises and long-term transformations requires interdisciplinary interaction.

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The Emotional Toll of Climate Change on Science Professionals

Abstract: Earth scientists and communicators dealing with or studying climate change face many potential stressors. They need support and resources to maintain and improve their emotional well-being.

Cited by 15 publications

References 48 publications

Weathering the Storms: Workplace Wellbeing, Mental Health, and the U.S. Meteorologist

Weathering the Storms: Workplace Wellbeing, Mental Health, and the U.S. Meteorologist

On proposing relational environmental metaphors to stimulate engagement and foster well-being in the midst of climate change

Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to reflect on sustainability research

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