Can Art Help Our Climate Anxiety?

15 September 2023
What Happens Next?
Can Art Help Our Climate Anxiety? | 85

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In the third episode of our exploration of climate anxiety, host Dr Susan Carland explores the shared experience of climate anxiety and how art can be used to reach the core of human emotions. Our expert guests create and study music and fiction that can evoke empathy and foster a sense of community among audiences who may be grappling with climate anxiety.

Dr Anna McMichael and Dr Louise Devenish, from Monash University's Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music and Performing Arts, introduce “Climate Notes”. This unique project combines letters from climate scientists and ordinary people, which discuss how climate change makes them feel, with original musical compositions. These “musical letters” provide a moving outlet for expressing the emotional and psychological impacts of climate change.

The episode also features literary scholar Professor Adeline Johns-Putra, head of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, who specialises in climate fiction, or “cli-fi.” Climate fiction includes novels, stories, and films that grapple with the impact of climate change on our world. These narratives can serve as a powerful tool for processing the emotional toll of climate anxiety, offering readers a chance to explore various perspectives on climate change and its consequences, fostering empathy and awareness.

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A full transcript of this episode is available on Monash Lens.

Learn more:

• “What Happens Next?”: The Impact of Art
• Hitting the right notes on climate change 
• Devastatingly low Antarctic sea ice may be the 'new abnormal', study warns
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