The Psychology of Climate Change

okay

listen what if i somehow traveled

backwards in time and i accidentally

distracted my grandma from ever meeting

my grandpa

because then my dad wouldn’t be born

right and then

i wouldn’t even exist a lot of us like

to joke that

if we had the ability to travel

backwards in time we’d be scared that a

minor action we took

then could massively impact our current

lives

but we neglect to see that minor actions

we take today

could have a massive impact on the

future this idea of the butterfly effect

works both positively and negatively

if we make small changes they’ll add up

over time to benefit the future

but if we continue making poor decisions

their effects will snowball

ultimately causing our downfall one

example of the butterfly effect can be

seen in the topic

of climate change now everybody already

knows climate change is a problem

so why is nobody acting on it we are

constantly inundated with facts and

statistics that don’t motivate us to

change very much

but by understanding the psychology

behind our own actions

or lack thereof we can be better

motivated to make significant changes in

our own lives

by enforcing communities that normalize

caring about

climate change and supporting policies

that directly fight the problems

the first problem and the first reason

why we don’t act in the face of climate

change is that we don’t view climate

change itself

as a real threat the climatechat.org

a website guiding a larger discussion on

the topic of climate change

has come up with the acronym pain to

explain why

the p stands for personal we tend to

play this blame game

pinning problems on a particular person

or group of people

when in reality climate change isn’t the

direct result of a specific person

we are all responsible for the future of

our earth

the a stands for abrupt we notice

changes that happen

abruptly and climate change is more of a

gradual threat

so it doesn’t really set off the alarm

bells in our heads

even so a study by fc moore assistant

professor in the department of

environmental science and policy at uc

davis

found that we are actually growing

accustomed to climate change

implying that we are even less likely to

act the longer it goes on

the i stands for immoral we share

articles and videos that make us feel

angry or sad

but climate change just doesn’t evoke

these emotions to the extent where we

can truly grasp how terrible its effects

are

sure polar bears are losing their

habitats and biodiversity is decreasing

but what does that mean for humans

regulations are being cut under the

trump administration

but what effect does that really have on

our everyday lives

even though some natural disasters

linked to climate change have directly

affected people

like hurricane katrina a study by howe

in 2019 found that these events

don’t cause people’s opinions of climate

change to shift very much in the long

term

the n stands for now which is kind of

similar to the a for abrupt

let’s start this one off with an example

we’re all aware that

average temperatures across the globe

are hitting record highs

in antarctica in february of this year

scientists reported the highest recorded

temperature on the continent

64.9 degrees fahrenheit

that was warmer than los angeles on the

same day

so we all know that you know global

temperatures are following an upward

trend

but it’s not like we receive government

push notifications on our phones telling

us

the weather tomorrow is going to be 120

degrees so we gotta act fast

no climate change is just happening too

gradually

we don’t perceive the temperature

increases let alone

all the other effects of climate change

as a real threat to our everyday lives

we aren’t seeing the devastating impacts

right now

and so it’s hard for us to process why

we should change our behavior

and you know even if we did receive

government push notifications telling us

the weather was going to be 120 degrees

it’s not guaranteed that everybody would

act you’ve probably seen on the news

people

refusing to evacuate their homes even in

the midst of a massive hurricane

in a time article in 2018 jeffrey kluger

states that humans have evolved to care

more about

immediate threats than those in the

future and so it’s hard for us to wrap

our heads around

why we should make sacrifices now like

evacuating our homes

even if this will help prevent future

disasters

now even if climate change did follow

the acronym of pain

even if it were personal abrupt immoral

and happening now

there are still psychological barriers

preventing us from changing our behavior

it’s no secret that humans are primarily

self-centered animals

since this increased our ancestors

chances of survival

as a result humans have a region of our

brains called the medial prefrontal

cortex

or the mpsc that has to do with

regulating self-centered emotions and

behavior

if you went under an mri and i asked you

to think about yourself

your mpfc would light up with activity a

similar thing happens if i ask you to

think about a close friend or a family

member

although to a lesser extent but if i ask

you to think about

a random stranger like residents of a

small town in ohio

your mpfc would barely light up at all

now here is the interesting bit

according to a study by behavioral

neuroscientist darjumbo in 2009

when you think about your future self 5

or 10 years into the future

your mpfc doesn’t really light up

at all we don’t recognize our future

selves

as ourselves so our usual self-centered

behavior in wanting to protect our own

interests and our chances of survival

doesn’t really kick in for our future

selves

and this way of thinking is significant

when the threat

to our survival is climate change

so now that we understand the processes

behind why we are so slow to act

we can discuss two powerful yet

realistic solutions

these solutions are centered around a

group mentality rather than the

individual

because in this way we can overcome the

individual psychological barriers

and instead work towards change as part

of a group

the first solution is enforcing

communities that normalize caring about

climate change

we all exist as parts of communities

whether it’s our friends our classmates

our schools our workplaces

the bay area california and the entire

united states

and we are also part of online

communities that might bridge continents

a study by jackson in 2008 says that we

are more likely to work towards a goal

if we are part of a tight-knit community

or a group of friends working towards

the same goal we can utilize this idea

of

group mentality to our advantage by

holding fundraisers in clubs at school

participating in events like bike to

work days and bringing food to book club

meetings or family reunions

in reusable containers rather than

plastic

and when we normalize and encourage this

type of behavior

people feel peer pressured in a good way

to fit

in going back to the idea of the

butterfly effect

when we make small contributions they

will add up across

communities and over time the second

solution

is supporting policies that directly

fight the problems

many of you have probably heard that

global warming is largely due to big

corporations for

reusing tons of carbon dioxide and

releasing it into the air

or using unnecessary amounts of water

and

while this is true it doesn’t mean that

well citizens actions are completely

useless if companies are doing all this

terrible stuff anyways

instead it means that we need to be

fighting back and pushing congress to

support policies that regulate

energy and water usage greta tunberg is

at the forefront of climate strikes and

rallies across the globe

and while these help serve as a public

image of unity against a common threat

you don’t need to participate in a

strike to have an impact

multiple websites like the environmental

defense fund at edf.org

offer specific petitions that you can

sign and ways to contact your local

representatives

now let’s take a step back for a second

to put all of this

into perspective if we each do our part

in the fight against climate change by

enforcing it in our individual

communities

and supporting policies that regulate

corporations we just might be able to

subvert

a slow and painful death for thousands

and thousands of species

you may never get the opportunity to

travel backwards in time

to accidentally distract grandma from

ever meeting grandpa

but you do have the opportunity to shift

the entire fate

of our planet in the words of ernest

hemingway

the earth is a fine place and worth

fighting for

and the power to do so is in your

hands thank you

you