Back in 2021, I wrote an article urging scientists and publications to shift their framing around climate change, moving from narratives steeped in doom and despair to highlighting the positives a sustainable future can bring.
Less than two years after that article had been published, my hometown was ravaged by the “Great Vermont Flood”—a catastrophic event that exceeded historical records and that national risk assessments predicted would occur only once every few centuries. With a hint of tragic irony, exactly one year later, Vermont was hit again with a “1-in-1,000-year rainfall event” that resulted in another series of severe floods. All of this struck a region touted as a “climate haven, ”considered among the safest and most resilient in the U.S. against the advancing impacts of climate change.
Despite these events (or, perhaps even more so because of them), I maintain my original position: we need to change the way we talk about climate change if we are going to motivate action. As the climate crisis unfolds with increasing intensity, it casts a long shadow over our collective psyche. The emotional toll of hearing about and experiencing devastating natural disasters—floods, wildfires, or any other type of extreme weather—can leave us feeling powerless and even more hopeless. While the science behind climate change is more or less settled, our path for how we navigate it is not. And when facing a turbulent future, we have a tendency to systematically exaggerate the likelihood of negative outcomes and underestimate positive ones. Left unchecked, this can lead us astray with misguided expectations, clouding our judgment of the future and stunting our ability to act.
The solution, believe it or not, is not providing more clarity about what is to come (though clairvoyance would certainly be a breakthrough for behavioral science). Rather, it is about changing our relationship with the future from one of discouragement to one of inspiration. The struggle to maintain hope and optimism in the face of alarming trends feels counterintuitive, but it is exactly what we need to start making lasting changes to avoid climate catastrophe once and for all.
Our expectations for the future shape the reality we build. When we are bound by visions of collapse, we risk limiting our outcomes to the bleak. But by imagining a more hopeful future, we unlock countless possibilities for transformation. In this piece, we’ll explore how a mindset of “stubborn optimism” can reframe our climate narratives, channeling our despair into determined action. Together, we’ll examine why this shift in outlook matters, how it influences what we do, and the potential it holds to guide us through the steep challenges ahead.
When Despair Takes Hold
Growing up in New England, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with winter. The days are cold, light is fleeting, and now many of the elements that once made the season bearable are disappearing. Snow quickly melts or falls as freezing rain. Lakes no longer freeze over as they once did. New England simply is no longer a charming, picturesque “winter wonderland” as before. Reflecting on the drastic changes that have occurred in my short lifetime evokes a profound sense of loss.
I share this to stress my own emotional pain and how it resonates with so many others when considering the harm that we’ve inflicted upon our natural world. In other words, I am not blindly promoting optimistic narratives without recognizing the stakes involved: the ecosystems at risk, the species we may lose, and even the subtle changes already affecting our communities and way of life.
The psychological impact of climate change cannot be understated. Eco-grief and anxiety are not solely products of experiencing natural disasters; these feelings can also arise as our world becomes less familiar, slowly at first but insidiously escalating toward the looming threat of environmental degradation—along with our perceived helplessness in combating it. Recent findings from Yale and George Mason University reveal this sentiment is pervasive.1 Nearly 10% of adults in the United States frequently experience feelings of hopelessness and an inability to manage their worries due to the overwhelming nature of the climate crisis. Put another way, the abrupt changes to our natural world are causing an estimated twenty-five million people to suffer from anxious and depressive symptoms.
Without a determined belief in solutions, it’s all too easy to give in to climate fatalism—the idea that it’s too late to alter the trajectory we’re on, that our actions are inconsequential, or that our best hope is to colonize Mars.2 However, amidst this backdrop of despair, we can meaningfully engage with feelings of eco-anxiety and transform them into a source of empowerment. By acknowledging and facing our fears and uncertainties head-on, we can convert distress into motivation and hope, ultimately building resilience and fostering a deeper connection to climate action.
Maintaining hope, then, is not merely a stance but a moral obligation. We must approach climate change with this mindset to avoid exacerbating harm to the most vulnerable.
The Science of Hope Against All Odds
To achieve this vision of climate optimism, we must first understand what hope is in general and why we experience it in the first place.
Hope, at its core, is the belief that despite current challenges, a better future is possible. It is a force that transcends immediate experiences and is oriented toward the pursuit of greater good, regardless of past successes or failures. Though our minds may be naturally inclined to identify the worst possible outcomes, we also have a powerful, evolutionary drive toward optimism that enables us to navigate uncertainty and pursue long-term goals.3 Recent advances in neuroscience support this, demonstrating that feeling hopeful activates brain regions linked to goal-directed behavior, helping us stay focused and maintain a sense of agency even in the face of adversity.4
This instinctive pull toward hope is not blind optimism; it is a fine-tuned survival mechanism that has sustained individuals and societies alike. Surprisingly, moments of hardship or vulnerability can deepen our sense of purpose, prompting us to confront our limitations with openness and cultivate the resilience necessary to meet even the most daunting crises.5
In his seminal work Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl introduced the concept of “tragic optimism,” which embraces the human capacity to find meaning and hope in the face of extreme tragedy.6 As a survivor of the Holocaust, Frankl noted that those who found meaning through even the most brutal of circumstances were more likely to endure and survive the depraved conditions of the concentration camps. Yet, as Frankl cautions, “Optimism is not anything to be commanded or ordered.” It does not emerge from an absence of distress but from an understanding of what our distress is trying to reveal.
Emotional engagement helps us face crises with greater clarity and purpose, channeling our feelings into constructive, solution-driven efforts. The inclination toward positive prospection—imagining and striving for a better future—helps reframe our personal narratives around climate change from one of scarcity and suffering to one of abundant possibility.7
Stubborn Optimism in the Fight Against Climate Change
As exemplified by Frankl, humanity’s history is filled with instances of overcoming monumental challenges and sometimes even tragedies—many of which we have created ourselves. Yet these moments stand as a testament to our capacity for innovation, collaboration, and resilience. Time and time again, we have rallied together, harnessing our collective ingenuity to confront daunting obstacles and correct our past mistakes. Efforts like the Montreal Protocol, which successfully curbed ozone depletion, highlight our capacity for international collaboration to address environmental crises.8
That being said, outrage is a natural and necessary response to the slow pace of climate action and the injustices that perpetuate environmental degradation. It’s a visceral reaction to the sense of helplessness and anger we feel when confronted with the immense scale of the crisis. But this is precisely where embracing stubborn optimism comes into play.
Coined by Christiana Figueres and her colleagues at Global Optimism, stubborn optimism refers to a gritty, determined belief in climate solutions, even when the road ahead seems uncertain or filled with obstacles. It’s not something that happens after we’ve solved the climate crisis, but what drives us to act in the first place. Outrage alone may mobilize us, but optimism—particularly in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges—gives us the strength to keep pushing forward.
This point is particularly relevant in light of the recent U.S. presidential election. With a history of dismantling environmental protections and an unwavering allegiance to the fossil fuel industry, Trump’s victory is a devastating blow to climate activists everywhere.9 Politics aside, his second term comes at a pivotal moment where we simply cannot afford regressive climate policies. The challenges ahead can feel crushing, along with the added weight of what we must overcome just to preserve the little progress we’ve made.
Yet, it is precisely in moments like these that a stubbornly optimistic mindset is needed most—not only to maintain our sanity but to propel us forward when progress feels too slow and time seems to be running out. This is not a dismissal of the very real grief and frustration that accompany such setbacks. When the election results first came in, my first instinct was to spiral, believing that this marked the end of any hope we could’ve had. But rejecting that fatalistic view allowed me to regroup, to reconnect with a deeper purpose, and to continue fighting.
Stubborn optimism is not about naïve faith that it will all work out. It acknowledges the gravity of the crisis ahead and the monumental task of transforming a deeply entrenched, high-carbon economy. But it’s this very acknowledgment that compels us to keep moving forward despite the odds. Hope provides the clarity and resilience to face the seemingly impossible, while outrage ensures we channel that hope into action, demanding change from those in power and from ourselves.
Because every single day, regardless of who wields power, we have an obligation to give our all to move the world toward the better place we know it can be. The end is a finite moment. Until that point, there’s more work we can do to continue the fight for the planet and all that inhabit it. No one can strip us of our values or our resolve. Even with no guarantee of success, we must unwaveringly move toward this goal for the greater good.
Balancing Optimism and Outrage as a Bridge to Action
As headlines announce collapsing Atlantic currents, rising extinction risks, and record-breaking pollution, it’s all too easy to feel defeated and overwhelmed by the enormity of what we face. Yet, as this article has sought to convey, succumbing to despair won’t stop these crises from unfolding. Only by sustaining hope—through dogged, determined action—can we change the outcome.
If you’ve felt overwhelmed by the weight of climate doom, give this thought experiment a try: take a moment to immerse yourself in the climate headlines dominating today’s news. Pay attention to how they leave you paralyzed and disheartened, with little will to act. Then, return here with fresh eyes. This narrative seeks to replace that sense of paralysis with renewed resolve to act and see possibility where once there was only weight.
Balancing urgency with measured progress is challenging, particularly as calls for climate action grow louder. While this article does not downplay the catastrophic risks we face, inspiring the necessary changes to avoid environmental collapse requires us to embrace this duality: celebrating our progress while acknowledging the long road ahead. Systemic change is essential, but it must be bolstered by individual actions within our reach. This approach sustains momentum and makes climate action not just possible but necessary.
Stubborn optimism becomes the bridge that channels the energy derived from the balanced blend of ambition and moral indignation to create a powerful dynamic—one that enables social movements to harness both the desire for progress and the urgency to correct past harms.10 The task we have before us is immense, but so is our capacity to change. Cultivating hope not just as a feeling but as a daily practice defies despair and fuels ambition. This isn’t merely a shift in perspective; it’s the force that reframes the challenges ahead of us into catalysts for positive transformation.
