Climate Anxiety and Hyperobjects in Two Picturebooks on Climate Activism

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which climate change is presented in texts and pictures as a hyperobject and what kind of climate anxiety is connected to characters in picturebooks. The analysis focuses on two picturebooks, Greta and the Giants, by Zoë Tucker and Zoe Persico (2019), and Our House is on Fire, by Jeanette Winter (2019). Both books present young climate activists solving problems that threaten the environment. Ecocritical content analysis (EcCA) was used to identify anxiety-related emotions in picturebooks connected to climate change issues and show how these emotions can be expressed in texts and pictures. The analysis was performed by applying the typology of ecological settings in texts and pictures and the taxonomy of characters’ climate anxiety. The nonlocality, interobjectivity, plurality, and viscosity of the hyperobject exist in both books, allowing young readers to encounter it. Moreover, global warming causes sadness- and threat-related emotions in both books; Winter’s picturebook even depicts strong depression-related emotions.