The international scientific journal Youth and Globalization (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.) has published a special issue focusing on planetary youth research and young people’s eco-emotions (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.). The guest editors of the special issue are Sofia Laine, Research Professor at the Finnish Youth Research Society, and Panu Pihkala, Adjunct Professor (Title of Docent) at the University of Helsinki, who will be working as a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Youth Research Society in spring 2026. The special issue contains six peer-reviewed articles and an introductory text by the guest editors. The introductory article (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.) and two of the articles are available for download online.
Articles
The first article of the Special Issue “A Social Ecology of Youth and Planetary Wellbeing in Various Contexts” by Kate Tilleczek, Pablo Aranguiz Mesias, Deborah MacDonald, Felipe Mantoya, James Stinson, Roxanne Cohen, Kasia Lujan and Lee McLoughlin present a multi-local co-research project called Partnership for Youth and Planetary Wellbeing. They concretely show how to organize a strong multirole, collaborative research setting with young people – in order to face the eco-crisis and to look for possibilities for more sustainable future. In their article, they describe their invention of a ‘social ecology of youth wellbeing framework’ and research practices that are youth-centered, participatory and anticolonial.
The second article “(Un)learning to live together in the climate-changed world: young people’s lived planetary citizenship“, by Kirsi Pauliina Kallio, Benjamin Bowman and Vilhelmiina Vainikka explore the possibilities of ‘lived planetary citizenship’ within a secondary school setting in the UK and Finland. Through their empirical work, the authors explore the decolonizing aspects of unlearning and underline the importance of adults providing opportunities for young people to experience various forms of belonging and agency, not only within interhuman communities, but also within multispecies communities.
The third article (open access) “Narrative construction of activist identities among young Finnish environmental Activists” by Juni Sinkkonen and Irmeli Mustalahti increases our understanding of young environmental activists’ identities through categorizations. The authors reveal that activist identities are subject to ongoing negotiation and that various categories of activist identity can coexist in the same person. The practical implications of this study include the need to support activists to reflect on their identities and the ways in which they act. The study also sheds light on the negative connotations of activism in public discourse and calls for more nuanced discussions. Read more from the news in the University of Eastern Finland web page (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.).
The fourth article, “The Orang Asli Youth’s Transformative Climate Agency, Coloniality, and Filmmaking” by Syafiqah Abdul Rahim adds an indigenous perspective to the planetary well-being thinking. She analyzes the impact of coloniality and systemic inequalities on the climate agency of indigenous youth in Malaysia. Among other things, the study examines how historical and ongoing patterns of inequality affect communities’ ability to pursue climate justice. By focusing on the voices and perspectives of indigenous youth through a decolonial feminist approach, the article concludes by emphasizing the importance of environmental sentiments and hope in culture-centered strategies for change.
The fifth article (open access), “Promoting Young People’s Ecosocial Participation through Socially Engaged Art and a New Materialist Approach” by Aki Lintumäki describes a co-created art project on environmental themes in Finland. Lintumäki connects this with Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action and describes methods of art-based action research. His observations highlight the potential of socially engaged art to enhance the ecosocial participation of young people, including engagement with various eco-emotions and, if all goes well, foster a sense of meaning and even hope among the participants.
The sixth article, “‘Generation Dread’? Young People’s Mourning for Futures Lost” by Peter Kelly, Seth Brown and James Goring analyze a variety of emotional responses among young people concerning the collapse of the Holocene. Their recent scenario planning project provides evidence that this kind of planning enables youth researchers to collaborate with young people, to develop a ‘radical politics of hope’ in relation to ‘hostile futures’. They conclude by emphasizing the importance of supporting young people’s path to stronger engagements with mutual responsibility and care. They also emphasize the usefulness of future mapping, and futures education, which is becoming an increasingly popular topic in youth research.
Special Issue information
Volume 7 (2025): Issue 2 (Dec 2025): Special Issue: Planetary Youth Research and Young People’s Eco-Emotions (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.); in Youth and Globalization, edited by Sofia Laine and Panu Pihkala
