‘I could breathe’: STU student finds community and hope at climate summit
For St. Thomas University (STU) student Kamylle Bonenfant, studying climate change has meant more than learning about environmental problems. It has also meant confronting the emotions that come with them.
Bonenfant, a fourth-year student completing an honours degree in sustainable and environmental studies with a minor in psychology, recently attended the Earth Charter Youth Summit at Soka University in California.
She was invited to represent Canada and New Brunswick after taking a course connected to the Earth Charter through STU’s sustainable environmental studies program. The course brought together participants from around the world and led to her becoming an Earth Charter leader.
The summit brought together students, environmental scientists, professors, policymakers and others working on environmental issues.
For Bonenfant, being surrounded by people who understood the challenges she was studying was one of the most meaningful parts of the experience.
“It was almost like a recharge going to the summit,” she said.
Bonenfant presented her research on “eco-anxiety and resilience,” focusing on the psychological effects of climate change and the emotions experienced by university students.
Eco-anxiety describes feelings such as worry, fear, frustration or distress connected to climate change and environmental problems. Bonenfant said that while eco-anxiety is the most commonly used term, people can experience many different emotions when confronting the climate crisis.
Her research looks at how students perceive their ability to make a difference, both individually and collectively and what emotions they experience as they learn more about climate change.
The subject is personal for Bonenfant.
As she progressed through environmental studies at STU, she began noticing feelings of anxiety, fear and being overwhelmed among herself and her peers.
“I knew that I wasn't kind of the only one feeling this,” she said.
Bonenfant said the environmental studies community at STU is relatively small. Learning about global environmental crises in a classroom with only a few other students can sometimes make the work feel isolating.
She compared herself to a pink fish swimming against a current of green fish.
At the summit, that feeling changed.
Kamylle Bonenfant at the summit with other peers and fellow professors (Submitted: Kamylle Bonenfant)
“Being in a room filled with environmental scientists, doctors, professors, students, change makers, just a plethora of environmental activists in so many different fields, it made me feel like I was swimming a little less harder,” she said. “And so it made me feel like I could breathe.”
During her presentation, Bonenfant used a climate emotion wheel to ask participants to identify how they felt about climate change. Many of those in the room were already highly familiar with environmental issues through their studies or work.
For Bonenfant, the exercise was an opportunity for participants to stop and recognize emotions they may not normally take time to consider.
She said students can become overwhelmed by constantly learning about environmental problems without necessarily having space to process those emotions.
Bonenfant believes universities could play a role in helping students understand those feelings while continuing to teach them about the realities of climate change.
The summit also changed how she thinks about her role on campus.
Bonenfant is one of the co-chairs of STU’s Sustainability Committee.
She said returning from the summit gave her more confidence and hope as she prepares to graduate and considers what will happen to the sustainability work she has been involved in after she leaves.
“I think the summit that I went to gave me more confidence and gave me more hope,” she said.
She has also tried to approach sustainability conversations without making students feel guilty about their individual choices.
Bonenfant said sustainability is not always accessible and people may not always have sustainable options available to them.
Since returning to campus, she has noticed some students approaching her differently. Instead of apologizing for choices they believe are unsustainable, students have started sharing the things they are doing to live more sustainably.
“They feel more positive about what they're doing and what they can do,” she said.
Bonenfant said she hopes students understand that they do not have to be perfect to contribute to environmental change.
“An individual can make a difference, but it isn't fast,” she said. “It's very at your own pace and you need to give yourself grace.”
Comments