"Climate change Denialism is something that applies to more than just diehard non-believers, a UNSW Sydney researcher argues..."
While we may know it is better for the environment to give up our car for public transport, stop using single-use plastics, or eat less meat—we do not always do all these things all the time.
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"It's almost impossible to live with zero impact on the planet, but it's what we do when we recognize this that matters," Belinda Xie asserts.
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The UNSW Scientia Ph.D. candidate specializes in cognitive science and researches the psychology of climate change.
"It's important that we acknowledge we are all climate deniers, to some extent, and then understand how and why we reached this point," Ms Xie said.
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"It's not simply because humans are bad or selfish people: there are a lot of external factors out of our control, such as the information we consume that can encourage denialism, or the way our economy is set up.
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"So, we then need to ask ourselves: how do we overcome this denialism—what action can we take as a community and what can government and business do?"
https://phys.org/...
Extinction Rebellion: rights experts say peaceful protest in UK under threat
Liberty condemns ‘unworkable restrictions, fines and arrests’ used by police to stifle rallies
www.theguardian.com/...
Fatalism:
"2008 and 2009, the American Psychological Association put together a task force to examine the relationship between psychology and climate change. It found that, although people said that climate change was important, they did not “feel a sense of urgency.” The task force identified several mental barriers that contributed to this blasé stance.
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People were uncertain about climate change, mistrustful of the science, or denied that it was related to human activity. They tended to minimize the risks and believe that there was plenty of time to make changes before the real impacts were felt. Just ten years later, these attitudes about climate feel like ancient relics. But two key factors, which the task force identified as keeping people from taking action, have stood the test of time: one was habit, and the other was lack of control. “Ingrained behaviors are extremely resistant to permanent change,” the group stated. “People believe their actions would be too small to make a difference and choose to do nothing.”
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"Fraser wants people to feel not alarmed but activated, and he takes a relentlessly positive, solutions-oriented attitude. “We got trains all the way across America in a few years, and people on the moon in a few years,” he said. And ideas for climate moonshots abound: negative-carbon-emission plants are prohibitively expensive, but they do exist; some advocate for reviving nuclear power; proponents of a Green New Deal call for ending fossil-fuel extraction and subsidies, and radically expanding public transportation."
https://www.newyorker.com/…
Mental health and climate change:
People also feel psychologically distant from climate change: they think it's not going to happen to them, it's going to happen in the future, or it's going to happen overseas.
"There has also been the emergence of mental health issues stemming from climate change which is another concern to psychologists."
Ms Xie said a famous study led by Yale University examined denialism in relation to people's climate change beliefs.
"The study identified six distinct groups of Americans on a spectrum from climate action to climate denialism, and found three subcategories of deniers," she said.
phys.org/...
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In behavior change psychology there's a spectrum of activity: risk perception leading to behavioural intention, leading to actual behavior.
"For example, you think climate change is a problem, you plan to do something about climate change and then you take action."
Save the Planet:
*Turn out the lights *Don't waste water *Avoid creating nighttime light pollution *Avoid burning wood (or other things), as wood fires are both pollutant and carcinogenic *Don't use harmful pesticides *Limit your use of cars and planes (if possible) *Don't use gas powered vehicles *Take out grass and put in a garden or pond (or xeriscape ) *Mow, blow, and whack with electric *Plant for the animals (bees, birds etc) *Plant a tree *Don't micro manage yards, go wilder *Try to use solar *Take a trolley or train *Use energy efficient products or products that work on clean fuels *Reduce dependence on non-biodegradable items* Walk or carpool *Turn down the heat or AC *Reuse items- give to Goodwill or Craig's list rather than dumping *Ride bikes instead of using cars *Cut down or cease eating meat *Use reusable carry bags for groceries not their plastic; second choice, paper bags *Compost *Save the bees *Be an insect friend *Be informed *Write your representative *Elect pro-environment candidates and demand action *Support the Green New Deal *Sign petitions *Get involved *March *Blog about the environment *Tell a friend!
Extinction Rebellion to block streets in London, Manchester and Cardiff