Instructors who teach climate change face the challenge of deciding how to balance hope (a focus on solutions) and the unavoidable "doom and gloom" of the issue. This challenge is described in an article by Krista Hiser and Matthew Lynch,
Poorly executed climate change messaging on the part of teachers, known among faculty as “glooming and dooming,” can produce despair, being overwhelmed, numbness, hopelessness, fatigue, and cynicism.... While climate literacy is an imperative for college students, there is a degree at which immersion in climate change information can become paralyzing: It is literally too much information, too fast, in too many dimensions. Worry and Hope: What College Students Know, Think, Feel, and Do about Climate Change.
This challenge is shared by anyone who attempts to communicate or educate on the topic of climate change. Psychologist Renee Lertzman writes:
For too long, there’s been a preoccupation with a “hope and despair” or “doom and gloom” binary. Climate change is the ultimate communications challenge: How do you motivate action in the face of what can appear to be an overwhelming situation? How do you inform without scaring people into inaction? What’s the magic formula? Some fear, with a dash of hope? Go all in on talking about solutions? Lay it all out there—the good, the bad, the ugly—and trust people can cope with it? -How Can We Talk About Global Warming
The short answer to this challenge is to include a focus on solutions in your curriculum. Instructors report that many students are well aware of the "doom and gloom" aspects of climate change, but are not aware of all the work that is already well underway to promote mitigation and adaptation, and are heartened to learn about all of these promising developments.
Including solutions is not a panacea for the complexities of teaching climate change. See the article Climate Grief: Our Greatest Ally? by Jennifer Atkinson. See additional resources below about acknowledging ecological doom, focusing on hope and solutions, and balancing doom and hope.
A good summary of the current state of climate and global politics is this sobering article from Rolling Stone, 2020 Zero Hour: There’s No Stopping Climate Change, But How Bad It Gets Is Still Up To Us.
"Deep Adaptation refers to the personal and collective changes that might help us to prepare for – and live with – a climate-induced collapse of our societies." Professor Jem Bendell's work sparked a movement for deep adaptation after the 2018 publication of his article: Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy.
"A foreboding sense of climate chaos, societal breakdown, and economic and ecological “doom” is now widespread. Acknowledging our predicament and working through the stages of grief takes one only to the midpoint: acceptance. What lies beyond? Michael Dowd (with occasional co-hosts) invites 75 guests to share their personal journeys along this trajectory and especially the gifts they have found on the other side of the post-doom doorway."
Tackling apathy and denial. by Renee Lertzman published in Climate
'Why do so many people switch off when it comes to climate change? How can psychology help to generate a more constructive response?"
"The climate apocalypse is coming. To prepare for it, we need to admit that we can’t prevent it." New Yorker article by Jonathan Franzen, Sept. 2019
Worry and Hope: what college students know, think, feel, and do about climate change.
"...a blind spot persists in our understanding of what is being taught about climate change across general education and thus what typical college students actually know, think, feel, and do about climate change"