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