"I can't live the way they expect me to live"

A younger generation discusses a just transition in rural areas

Abstract

This article explores rural youths’ perspectives on climate change through the lens of environmental justice, focusing on how place shapes their reasoning about sustainability. The material is based on interviews with rural residents aged 20–35, collected through two different research projects. Theories of environmental justice – distributive, procedural, and recognitional – and rhetorical concepts such as rationalization, legitimization, justification, and imploration (Wolrath Söderberg & Wormbs 2022) are used to analyze how young people explain their engagement with climate issues. None of the interviewees deny the reality of climate change, but their arguments highlight how social, economic, and geographical conditions affect the capacity for transition to sustainable practices. By making these place-specific perspectives visible, the article contributes to a more nuanced understanding of sustainability that goes beyond urban norms.