Cultivating hope: The emotional side of environmental education

The Earth Sustainability program at Virginia Tech University is a two year general education curriculum with a sustainability theme. In this research based thesis, I studied the emotional process of 12 female Earth Sustainability students as they navigate the heady issues of global environmental change. My guiding question is “What is the emotional process of 18-20 year old female students’ in higher education in regards to environmental degradation?” Using Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1999) as my primary research method, I coded reflection assignments to discover an emotional process through which these young women navigate global environmental change. I explore blame, guilt, denial, and anger as expressed by the young women as they learn more about our planetary plight. Finally, I look at hope as a key emotion to action in regards to environmental work and why without hope, teaching environmental degradation is an exercise in futility