Psychology and Climate Change - Australian Psychological Society

Psychology and Climate Change A Position Statement prepared for The Australian Psychological Society with input from Susie Burke, Margot Prior, Karen Spehr, and members of the APS Climate Change Reference Group and Public Interest Team • August, 2010

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Copyright © The Australian Psychological Society Ltd ABN 23 000 543 788

APS Position Statement on Psychology and Climate Change Table of Contents 1.

Definitions

3

2.

Introduction

4

3.

Climate science underpinning the position statement

5

4.

Climate change as a serious global health threat

5

5.

Psychology’s unique contribution to dealing with climate change

6

6.

People’s risk appraisals and understanding of climate change

6

7.

Psychological contributions to how people change behaviour

7

8.

Adaptation to, and coping with, climate change impacts and threats

8

9.

The APS position

9

10

Recommendations

10

11.

References

11

Psychology and Climate Change A Position Statement prepared for the Australian Psychological Society 2

1.

Definitions used in this position statement

1.1

Climate- the composite or generalisation of weather conditions of a region, as temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years (Macquarie Dictionary Online, 2009).

1.2

Climate change – ‘Any changes in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity’ (IPCC, 2007). This includes changes in temperature, precipitation, wind, atmosphere, oceans and natural water supplies, snow and ice, land surface and biosphere.

1.3

Other environmental threats – In addition to climate change, other areas of concern where the national and global environment is threatened include: air, land and water pollution, deforestation, diminishing fossil fuel reserves, imminent exhaustion of fisheries, salination, habitat and biodiversity loss, population growth and pressures, natural disasters.

1.4

Mitigation - reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other efforts to address and decrease the severity of impending natural and human disasters associated with escalating climate change and other environmental threats.

1.5

Adaptation - Adaptation is often used in the climate science context to refer to structural changes that people and communities may need to make to address the physical impacts of climate change. But adaptation also refers to psychological responses that people make to climate change threats, including how they appraise and understand risks, how they feel about situations, and how they behave and respond to the threats.

1.6

Social responsibility - a responsibility to current and future society at large. Social responsibility is one of the four key principles of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) (Canadian Psychological Association, 2000). The CPA argue that “Two of the legitimate expectations of psychology as a science and a profession are that it will increase knowledge and that it will conduct its affairs in such ways that it will promote the welfare of all human beings” (p.28).


2.

Introduction

2.1

The aim of this position statement is to emphasise the urgency of climate change as a global problem with significant psychosocial and health implications, to advocate for government, businesses, and organisations to develop effective strategies to minimise climate change impacts, and to position psychologists as a professional group with expert knowledge, skills and resources that can help in climate change science, including mitigation and adaptation.

2.2

The APS has played a key role in stimulating a number of national initiatives by Psychological Associations around the world (e.g., APA, BPS, CPA) to communicate their deep concern at the gravity and urgency of the climate change crisis, and the need for psychology’s active involvement and commitment in ongoing collaborative work at national and international levels to address the human causes and consequences of climate change. An important aspect of this concern and commitment is the drafting and endorsing of a clear statement of our position and concern about this profoundly important environmental and social issue.

2.3.

The position statement notes the contributions of psychological research to an understanding of the psychological dimensions of global climate change, including the human behaviour contributions to climate change, how people understand the risks of climate change, how they adapt to and cope with environmental threats, and how psychologists can assist in limiting climate change.

2.4.

The recommendations are to assist and encourage psychologists’ engagements with climate change issues as researchers, academics, practitioners and students, and to foster the development of national and international collaborations with other individuals and associations inside and outside of psychology.


3.

Climate science underpinning the position statement

3.1.

The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in information and debate about climate change causes, impacts and future projections. Important sources of information on the scientific understanding of human-induced climate change that inform and underpin this position statement are: IPPC 2007, Copenhagen Climate Congress – Synthesis Report (2009); Australian Government Department of Climate Change 2009; CSIRO, 2010, CSIRO, 2009).

3.2

Consistent with the position of the Victorian Government as stated in their Victorian Climate Change Green Paper (2009), this APS position statement:

accepts the consensus of the Australian and international scientific communities that human activities have resulted in substantial global warming over the last 60 years and that the continued growth in greenhouse gas concentrations by these activities is generating a high risk of dangerous climate change (p.18).

3.3

Consequences include rising global average temperatures, rising sea levels, increased frequency of extreme weather events, ocean acidification, decreases in biodiversity, changes in natural systems, and a wide range of human health effects. These consequences are already being observed and global greenhouse gas emissions to date mean we are already locked into further global warming and climatic changes.

4.

Climate change as a serious global health threat

4.1.

Climate change is regarded as the most serious global health threat of the 21st Century (Costello et al., 2009). The major threats, both direct and indirect, come from changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable shelter and human settlements, extreme climatic events such as more catastrophic bushfires, droughts, floods and cyclones, and population growth and migration.

4.2

The main categories of risks to physical health in Australia come from health impacts of extreme weather events, temperature extremes, vector-borne infectious diseases, food-borne infectious diseases, water-borne infectious diseases and risks from poor water quality, diminished food production, increased in urban air pollution, (Horton & McMichael, 2008)

4.3

The main mental health consequences of climate change will come from direct impacts of extreme weather events, disruptions to the social, economic and demographic determinants of mental health (e.g., from impaired rural livelihoods, increased costs of basic services), and emotional stresses and mental health problems in response to perceptions/fears of climate change and to family stresses.

4.4

The most severe impacts of climate change will fall on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities who have played the smallest part per capita in contributing to the rise in greenhouse gases. Variations in vulnerability to climate change impacts are evident across nations and communities, and also across social class, age, and gender, with women, children, the elderly, and future generations more vulnerable.


5.

Psychology’s unique contribution to dealing with climate change

5.1

Psychologists have been substantially involved in collaborative, multi-disciplinary work on environmental issues in Australia and internationally for decades. Several key articles by eminent psychologists have been published over the last few years stressing psychology’s essential role in addressing climate change and environmental threats (Swim et al., 2009; Gifford, 2008; Stokols et al., 2009; Kazdin, 2009).

5.2

There is strong consensus among psychologists and other scientists that human motivations and behaviours constitute core causal factors with respect to environmental problems (e.g., Gardner & Stern, 2002; Geller, 2002; Gifford, 2007; Oskamp & Schultz, 2006; Swim et al., 2009; Vlek & Steg, 2007).

5.3

According to the IPPC report (2007), however, human behaviour is one of the least well understood components of the climate system.

5.4

Psychologists have important contributions to make to climate change science, through:

5.4.1

helping to conceptualise and understand the human behaviour contributions to climate change (like population growth and consumption) and the psychological (e.g., motivation, ability) and contextual drivers of these contributions (e.g., physical opportunities and constraints, social and cultural norms).

5.4.2 sharing knowledge and understanding of how the public perceives the risks of, and understands climate change. 5.4.3 providing answers to questions about how people and organisations can change their behaviour to reduce the threats of climate change (mitigation). 5.4.4 helping individuals and communities adapt to the psychosocial impacts of climate change and threats, including helping people to manage the distress of facing the threats of climate change.

5.4.5 helping organise fair and sustainable rules for equitable sharing of global resources.

6.

People’s risk appraisals and understanding of climate change

6.1

How people perceive, appraise and understand environmental problems is critical because these processes affect how concerned people are (or not), and how motivated they are to take action (or not).

6.2

Psychologists are uniquely positioned to explore how people’s emotional reactions and other moderating factors combine with rational thought to produce a sense of risk and the willingness to take actions that reduce it (Slovic et al., 2004).

6.3

Understanding why scientists and other relevant stakeholders may not get their messages about risk across to the public – and why they are not always able to motivate appropriate action even when they do – is one of the areas where psychology can help address the challenge of climate change (APA, 2008).


7.

Psychological contributions to how people change behaviour

7.1

Human behaviour is complex, and deeply embedded in social situations, institutional contexts and cultural norms. Psychologists contribute valuable knowledge about the importance of addressing numerous and often interacting factors including risk perceptions and understandings, threat and coping response appraisals, the extent to which individuals think that their actions will make a difference, barriers to action, and ways of motivating people to change.

7.2

Barriers to action include structural barriers (e.g., lack of public transport), socio-cultural barriers such as perception of high status coming from large cars and large homes, and economic disincentives (e.g., high costs of ’greening’ behaviours, especially for low income families). There are also significant psychological barriers including ignorance, uncertainty, mistrust, denial, judgmental discounting, lifetime habits, perceived risks, tokenism, social comparison, conformity, and conflicting goals and aspiration (Swim et al., 2009).

7.3

Psychologists have a long history of work in motivating change (e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Prochaska and DiClemente, 1984; McKenzie-Mohr, 2000; Stern, 2000).

7.4

Motivating change includes a range of strategies that have been identified in the social science literature for helping people to overcome barriers (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000; Stern, 2000. People need to know what they can do, what actions they can take, and why taking such actions can really make a difference. Both the public and policy makers need to be aware of the relative efficacy and utility of particular actions (Gardner & Stern, 2008). Psychologists can identify and promote strategies which directly address people’s concerns, anxieties and distress in the face of a daunting set of environmental issues and uncertainties, and can also identify environmentally significant behaviours with an emphasis on psychologically significant responses that lead to feelings of efficacy, responsibility, hope and optimism.

7.5

As well as having expertise in motivating and facilitating change at an individual level (including intra-individual variables as well as behaviours), psychologists also have expertise in developing an understanding of broader physical, geophysical and social environments, including infrastructure, landscaping, weather, scarcity of resources, sense of community and feeling of ‘ownership’ of a place (Gifford, 2008). They can also advise on how to measure and modify aspects of these environments to achieve sustainable change (Curnow & Spehr, 2006).

7.6

Both bottom-up (e.g., individual and community commitment), and top-down (e.g., government leadership and legislative strategies) initiatives are needed. Behavioural science knowledge is critical at all levels of the design, implementation and evaluation of proenvironmental campaigns and activities at an individual and societal level. In addition, social scientists can develop models of decision making that will help policy-makers understand how the public will respond once policies are put into place (Swim et al., 2009), and advise government on how to ensure that climate policies are effectively communicated and turned into effective actions.


8.

Adaptation to, and coping with, climate change impacts and threats

8.1

Adaptation to climate change is an ongoing and ever-changing process that includes reactions to, and preparations for, both the physical and psychosocial impacts of climate change.

8.2

Physical changes include the effects of rising sea levels, droughts, unpredictable weather, shortages of food and clean water, other resource shortages, extreme weather events.

8.3

The social and psychological impacts of climate change include the direct impacts on people affected by natural disasters and a changing environment, as well as the psychosocial impact of disruptions to the social, economic and environmental determinants that promote wellbeing in individuals and communities (Fritze et al., 2008), conflicts over resources (Reuveny, 2008 – from APA), anxiety and despair (Kidner, 2007 – from APA), and heat related violence.

8.4

The psychosocial impacts also include the threat of climate change as constructed and represented by the media and contemporary information and communication technologies.

8.5

Adaptation to threats and impacts includes a wide range of responses including how people understand the problems, how they react emotionally, how they decide what to do and how they behave in response to the problems.

8.6

Types of coping responses include actions by individuals or groups which are proactive, in anticipation of predicted changes to the environment, or reactive to changes that are already here.

8.7

Individual responses include intra-psychic responses like denial or minimisation, cognitive reappraisals, emotion regulation, and behavioural changes like seeking information, seeking social support, and engaging in mitigation efforts to reduce the threat (Swim et al., 2008).

8.8

Psychologists can assist adaptive responses at numerous levels: helping to change people’s appraisals of environmental threats; therapeutic interventions to help people deal with climate change distress; helping people to develop a sense of individual and group efficacy to move them from despair and hopelessness to a sense of empowerment; helping people to imagine and plan for a great transformation of our society; teaching helpful attitudes and lifestyles; teaching acceptance of change; helping to reframe aspirations from consumerism to adopting climate change amelioration behaviours (Gifford, 2008).

8.9

As they have done in peace psychology and alternative dispute resolution at local and international levels, psychologists can make crucial contributions to organising fair and sustainable rules for sharing global resources, advocating for just and equitable solutions, and adding to the development of conditions and mechanisms for achieving national and international consensus, adherence and successful outcomes for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.


9

The APS position

The APS accepts the scientific consensus of grave concern regarding climate change as a global problem with significant psychosocial implications, including direct impacts on health. 9.1

In relation to climate change and health, the APS considers that:

9.1.1 Climate change involves potentially serious or irreversible harm to the environment and to human health and psychosocial wellbeing; 9.1.2

The main mental health consequences of climate change will come from direct impacts of extreme weather events, disruptions to the social, economic and demographic determinants of mental health (e.g., from impaired rural livelihoods, increased costs of basic services), and emotional stresses and mental health problems in response to perceptions/fears of climate change and to family stresses;

9.1.3 Measures that mitigate climate change will also benefit health;

9.1.4 Governments, businesses, and organisations should recognise the urgency of climate change and other environmental problems, and develop effective policies to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 9.1.5 Strategies to mitigate climate change impacts and to promote successful community adaptation and resilience should be fair and just, and should observe the human rights of vulnerable people and communities; 9.1.6 9.2

Individuals, businesses and organisations, including psychologists and other health professionals, should be informed about, and take measures to reduce, their greenhouse gas emissions (‘carbon footprint’) by making appropriate changes to consumption patterns.

In relation to psychological contributions to climate change, the APS considers that:

9.2.1 Human motivations and behaviours constitute core causal factors with respect to environmental problems; 9.2.2 Profound changes in human behaviour are therefore required to bring about improvements in every area of concern where the national and global environment is threatened;


9.2.3 Psychologists are a professional group with expert knowledge, skills and resources that can help our understanding of: • • • • • • • • • •

the psychological dimensions of global climate change; the human behaviour contributions to climate change; how people understand the risks of climate change and how motivated they are to take action; pro-environmental behaviour change; measuring and modifying aspects of the environments to achieve sustainable change the design, implementation and evaluation of pro-environmental campaigns and activities at an individual and societal level; models of decision making that will help policy-makers understand how the public will respond once policies are put into place; effective communication of climate policies to ensure they are turned into effective actions; how people and communities can adapt to and cope with environmental threats; how to organise fair and sustainable rules for equitable sharing of global resources.

9.2.4 There is a social and moral imperative for psychology to play an active and leading role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to contribute its expertise to relevant local, state, national and international dialogues. 9.25

The APS accepts responsibility for its environmental footprint, including greenhouse gas emissions, resource use and waste production, and takes action accordingly, by estimating emissions, setting targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, adopting sustainability measures, and through public and transparent reporting on its activities and progress on these efforts.

10

Recommendations

10.1

In light of the importance of understanding and addressing psychological and social responses to the impacts of climate change, the APS makes the following specific recommendations. The APS:

10.1.1

Urges governments, organisations, psychologists and other health professionals, and the public, to recognise the urgency of climate change and other environmental problems, and to develop effective strategies to minimise climate change impacts and promote successful community adaptation and resilience.

10.1.2

Supports psychologists to collaborate with other expert groups, climate change scientists, government, social scientists, and to contribute to climate science, including understanding of human behaviour drivers of climate change, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

10.1.3 Undertakes to assist and encourage psychologists’ engagement with climate change issues as researchers, academics, practitioners and students. 10.1.4 Urges psychologists from all domains and specialisations to bring their skills to bear in climate change advocacy, mitigation and adaptation.


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