APA Special Issue: Psychology & Global Climate Change

Thu, 26 May 2011 22:11:33 -0400
climate, research

In August of 2009, I wrote about the findings from the report of the American Psychological Association's (APA) task force studying the interface between psychology and global climate change. That report was in a way, a call to action for additional research and work to better understand the role of human behavior in climate change, the reasons people are not acting and ways to get people to act. The report made clear the many ways psychology as a discipline has important contributions to make in understanding climate change and helping to reverse it.

Jumping forward two years and the May/June 2011 issue of American Psychologist (APA's official journal) is a devoted special issue and follow up to that earlier report.

The special issue includes seven articles written by researchers from colleges and universities around the world, including many from the APA Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change. For campus sustainability advocates interested in research on psychology and climate change, the articles are fascinating but can also can provide important concrete lessons for improving initiatives and programs on campus. Robert Gifford's article, "The Dragons of Inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation", provides what he calls "dragons of inaction" essentially a taxonomy of seven psychological barriers that limit sustainable behavior change at both an individual and organizational level.

The seven article's include:

Psychology's contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change.

Human behavioral contributions to climate change: Psychological and contextual drivers.

The psychological impacts of global climate change.

Adapting to and coping with the threat and impacts of climate change.

The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Contributions of psychology to limiting climate change.

Public understanding of climate change in the United States.

Abstracts to all of the articles are available for free here. If you are on a campus, your library may be able to provide access as well.