What is Climate Psychology?

Many people find it hard to think or talk about climate change, let alone to experience how they feel about it. Whilst we might all know at some level that we can’t continue “business as usual”, it can be overwhelming to engage or really connect with reality and face what’s happening.

So climate psychology helps us to understand what’s going on in us and in society (particularly in the so-called Global North), and provides a bridge towards engaging with reality by exploring:

  • our emotions – individual and collective - much of which are unacknowledged & unconscious

  • the social & mental processes that have contributed to the ecological and climate crisis

  • and our responses and processes of adaptation to it.

Climate psychology can help by:

  • recognizing the complexity within and outside of us; we inhabit many interwoven systems and there is no one simple fix;

  • building deeper understanding about why some people can’t or won’t engage, which helps us to foster and maintain good relationships, even during difficult times;

  • building understanding of the dynamics of different groups and segments of societies so that we work with and not against differences;

  • helping us to find new and less divisive language to cope with our many human predicaments;

  • guides us as we build cultures of care and support for individuals and groups; cultures which are essential to building resilience;

  • offering tried and tested frameworks and tools to engage, communicate and support people effectively, including those experiencing distress about what’s happening in and to our world;

  • developing practical strategies for transformation and adaptation to cope with the consequences of the climate and ecological crisis.

These might all sound quite intellectual, but it’s really about having a deeper understanding of climate psychology so it can help you, your team, your community or your organisation to find new ways of living in difficult times, and supporting you in the journey towards acceptance and adaptation.

For more on Climate Psychology visit the Climate Psychology Alliance and the Wikipedia entry.