Exploring the impact of eco-comic book stories on youth climate action

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Climate-fiction stories have a tendency to be overly catastrophic or apocalyptic, with evidencesuggesting this can lead to denial or anxiety. In contrast, stories which weave in solutions to climatechange have been shown to motivate positive action (Baden, 2019). This is especially the case if storiesleave readers feeling empowered about how to take action themselves (De Meyer et al, 2020). However,it is still unclear how hopeful optimism can be balanced with epic drama, and a small dose of sublimefear and suspense. Comic books and cartoon animations are one form of storytelling with strong traditionof achieving this - often through courageous superheroes that help to 'save the world'. These themes willbe explored through a series of focus groups that measure how young readers react to a range of comicstories that contain varying degrees of positive action. The focus groups will further analyse how ecocomicsalso have an important balance to strike between depicting solutions with realism, versusdepicting them in a more metaphorical sense. Responses will be measured in terms of their capacity tomotivate young readers to act on the solutions imagined within the storyline. The focus groups will takeplace with schools in the Southampton area, involving a total of 40 children and teenagers aged 12-18.