De som inte kan simma kommer nog att dö! : En studie om barns tankar och känslor rörande klimatförändringarna

This study has investigated the thoughts and the emotions concerning climate change among children. The main purpose of the thesis is to study how the children cope with the threat of climate change and if they see it as something concerning their on lives. The theoretical roots of the study are to be found within appraisal theory, social representations, coping and self-efficacy. The children who are included in this study are 12-13 years old and live in the western part of Sweden. The data collection is based on the interviews with 27 children. The interviews have been thematically analysed and the aim was to get a deeper understanding of how the children think and feel concerning climate change. In the analysis four main themes emerged which focus on: how the children perceive and relate to climate change, the contexts in which the children face the discussions on climate change, how they cope with the emotions that are awakened and how they feel that they can influence issues related to climate change and the environment. It can be stated that the results have many nuances. The majority of the children see climate change as something abstract and distant that doesn’t affect their own lives. Regarding the future of the planet the children express both hope and worry, but also ambivalence. They mean that we, the humans, have the decision in our hands. The children meet the discussion of climate change in different places like: in media, in school, at home and through own experiences. They use several different strategies to cope with their emotions; problem –focused coping, emotion-focused coping and meaning-focused coping. Most of the children feel that they can affect the environment positively through small, simple everyday actions, bur there are also children that feel that there is nothing they can do. The children’s own experiences affect how they think and feel regarding climate change It can be concluded that many of the interviewed children are involved in issues concerning the environment and climate change and that they possess knowledge that adults don’t have, but also that climate change must be transformed into something tangible and seen as a personal responsibility for a change to occur.There, the community, the adult world and the school have a great responsibilit