“People care deeply”: why climate fear, frustration and hope are shaping a new generation of activism

Climate researcher Pancho Lewis tells The Decarbonisation Dialogue how growing up between Peru and the UK shaped his activism - and why emotions like despair and anger can still drive meaningful climate action.

Climate researcher and public engagement specialist Pancho Lewis says communities are core to the discussion on climate and in making decisions that will shape everyday life.

Speaking on The Decarbonisation Dialogue podcast, Pancho argues that public concern about climate change remains “really, really very high.”

Pancho, who has completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Durham University and has been awarded a PhD from Lancaster University, specialises in the politics of net-zero transitions and how people emotionally engage with climate change.

In episode 46 of our podcast, Pancho reflects that policymakers often misunderstand public attitudes towards change. According to him, there is a persistent myth among governments that people will only tolerate climate policies if the impact on their daily lives is barely noticeable.

He says: “That’s not true. If changes are carried out in a way people see as fair, and if they’re done in genuine consultation with communities, then people are much more likely to support them.”

Originally raised between the UK and Peru, Pancho said his childhood experiences exposed him to stark inequalities that later shaped his political outlook. He first became heavily engaged with climate politics while serving as a councillor in Westminster during the surge of climate activism in 2019.

“It was the birth of Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future movement,” he says. “That got me really interested in the environment and climate issues.”

Pancho describes how climate concerns rapidly shifted from being a marginal issue in local government to becoming central political priorities. When he first pushed Westminster Council to declare a climate emergency, he says he faced significant resistance.

“The response was, ‘We don’t do things like this,’” he says. “But four or five months later they were passing a climate emergency declaration. Attitudes changed very, very rapidly.”

Pancho believes this demonstrates both the opportunities and risks facing climate politics today.

“Things can change very quickly,” he says. “That’s an opportunity, but it’s also a risk because we can also see things backslide in the other direction.”

A major focus of Pancho’s research has been understanding why some communities support fossil fuel developments despite concerns about climate change. During fieldwork in West Cumbria, he studied local support for a proposed new coal mine -  one that would have been the first opened in the UK in decades.

Pancho found that residents were deeply worried about climate change while simultaneously backing the mine because of the promise of jobs and economic security.

“People wanted to see the government do more to reduce emissions, but they couldn’t see any clean industries being delivered in their area.”

He added that the coal industry’s cultural identity also played a powerful role, with campaigners successfully linking mining heritage to hopes for future prosperity.

“The lesson for government is simple,” Lewis says. “You’ve got to deliver those alternative industries if you’re going to get people behind net zero.”

Despite acknowledging growing climate anxiety and pessimism, Pancho insists despair does not have to lead to inaction. Instead, he argues emotions such as frustration, fear and apathy can become politically productive.

“What we do as individuals and what we do in our communities really, really matters. Change that starts at the community level can scale up to the national and international level.”

Pancho argues that societies are capable of living differently and that high-carbon lifestyles are neither inevitable nor permanent.

“People are capable of living in lots of different ways. We haven’t always lived these really high-carbon, energy-intensive lifestyles.”