Empowering children to identify their climate superpowers
Based on recovery capitals identified for communities’ response to natural events, this spin-off research is helping children overcome climate anxiety.
When she was eight, April Harrison’s Kinglake community was decimated by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria.
April was separated from her brother and pregnant mother and sheltered at home with her father and three other siblings as the fires raced through the town, killing as many as 120 people and destroying numerous buildings including her primary school.
In the years that followed, April has experienced ongoing anxiety about climate change and bushfire risk. But she channelled her trauma into strength and has since contributed to numerous climate initiatives as a youth advocate.
Her invaluable insights informed a spin-off from a National Hazards Research Australia research project, which is helping children identify their strengths in dealing with climate change.
Born out of the Recovery Capitals project, the research led to the development of the highly successful Your Climate Superpowers website that has been used over 18,000 times by 11,000 people since its launch in 2022.
April says many young people she knows are scared about the climate and the threat of disaster. “But actually they’re smart, they’re educated, they have ideas, they have opinions and they have things to say that are useful,” she says.
Your Climate Superpowers was developed by University of Melbourne researchers Dr Katitza Marinkovic Chavez and Phoebe Quinn.
Using a co-design process involving a series of workshops with 31 young people aged 12 to 25 in Victoria, they adapted the Recovery Capitals findings into ‘climate superpowers’ and associated actions that children can use to learn about climate change, do something positive, and look after themselves.
Dr Marinkovic Chavez says there were previously very few resources to combat climate anxiety based on what young people identify as important.
“We wanted this to be from young people and for young people, taking a strength-based approach and letting children and young people share their climate superpowers – their skills, their knowledge, what they already doing and their values.”
The website has received highly positive feedback, with some school students reporting they went on to organise other activities to promote climate resilience after having done the quiz. Ongoing work is developing teaching activities aligned with the curriculum and resources to support teacher wellbeing.
“The fires were probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me in my life, but the experience has definitely shaped me,” says April, who is a veterinary nurse studying to be a vet, and is engaged to a firefighter.
“I think we have to be hopeful. I think if we’re not hopeful, nothing will change.”
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