Dealing with Eco-Anxiety! by Little Climate
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Transcript of Dealing with Eco-Anxiety! by Little Climate
Dealing with Eco-anxiety Suzanne Chew, Little Climate
Foodscape Collective
● 22nd October 2016
My background
● Physics & Env Tech● Carbon markets● NGO low-carbon projects
(clean cooking, clean water, clean energy)
● Set up Little Climate
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
Happy
Hopeful
Opti-mistic
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
Happy
HopefulExcited
Opti-mistic
Deter-mined
Ready to fight
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
Angry
Frustrated
Bitter
Happy
HopefulExcited
Opti-mistic
Deter-mined
Ready to fight
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
Angry
Frustrated
Bitter
Helpless
Don't Know Enough
Scared
Happy
HopefulExcited
Opti-mistic
Deter-mined
Ready to fight
When someone talks about climate change, how do you feel?
Angry
Frustrated
Bitter
Helpless
Don't Know Enough
Bored Scared
Disbelief Happy
HopefulExcited
Opti-mistic
Defeated
Deter-mined
Ready to fight
It can feel very confusing
Angry
Frustrated
Bitter
Helpless
Ignorant
Bored Scared
Disbelief Happy
HopefulExcited
Opti-mistic
Defeated
Deter-mined
Ready to fight
Problem #1:
Climate change is no fun at all!
(Easier to avoid it than deal with it)
Is this what people are doing?
“Dissonance”
CulturalDissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
Emotional Dissonance
“Dissonance”
CulturalDissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
Emotional Dissonance
Might help us understand
ourselves better
Might help us understand
others better
CulturalDissonance
Unconscious view of the world through the lens of 2 questions:
● What does my social/cultural group believe?
● Will I still fit in if I believe or act different?
CulturalDissonance
● This is why more facts and figures won't really work
● They value their social ties too much to risk not fitting in
Source: Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School, 2012
Unconscious view of the world through the lens of 2 questions:
● What does my social/cultural group believe?
● Will I still fit in if I believe or act different?
--> Choose to believe or act in order to fit in with social/cultural group
Fear of losing social group
“The mental stress experienced if you:
● Have two or more contradictory beliefs at the same time;
● Do something that is contradictory to your beliefs; or
● Learns something new that contradicts existing beliefs.”
Cognitive Dissonance
“The mental stress experienced if you:
● Have two or more contradictory beliefs at the same time;
● Do something that is contradictory to your beliefs; or
● Learns something new that contradicts existing beliefs.”
Cognitive Dissonance
“I am a good person / I care about the planet BUT I <insert lifestyle choice here>”
--> Reduce mental discomfort – HOW?--> Rationalize it away --> Avoid thinking about climate change
Fear of losing Lifestyle
CULTUREFAMILY TRADITION
SOCIAL NORM
Why don't people #ActOnClimate?
● Fear of losing social ties and social standing
● Fear of losing lifestyle they are used to
● More facts and numbers won't work
--> So what can be done?
#1: Hear it often, from different sources
#1: Hear it often, from different sources
At Work
#1: Hear it often, from different sources
family
#1: Hear it often, from different sources
Friends
#1: Hear it often, from different sources
Books, Songs, Movies, Plays,
Operas?
#2: Hear it from sources we identify with
“First of all, we are changing minds, not hearts.
We’re starting with the assumption that someone’s heart is in a good place. Someone’s heart has good values.
We’re just trying to show how the values already in their heart connect with the issue of climate change.”
Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, Texas Tech University
#3: Hear it discussed based on values
#3: Hear it discussed based on values
Stewardship
Climate change is so big --> can’t understand it --> can’t do anything about it
Climate change is so big --> can’t understand it --> can’t do anything about it
CulturalDissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
Emotional Dissonance
Climate change is so big --> can’t understand it --> can’t do anything about it
Education Fun
Actions
Start with little actions
Actions
Why I set up Little Climate
Education Fun
Actions
The More I Drew...
The More Empowered I Felt!
3 minute doodle!
Pin up on strings, best one gets stickers! (write your name)
3 minute doodle!
Draw what is important to you in this world, in this life:
what you want to give time towhat gives you fulfilment
what gives you peacewhat gives you joy
what you would protectwhat you would fight for
3 minute list!
Look at your doodle:
"How will climate change affect this?"
On the other side of the paper, write down as many points as you can think of.
Drawing and talking were not enough!
Still on this side:
Angry
Frustrated
Bitter
Helpless
Ignorant
Bored Scared
Disbelief
Defeated
“Intolerable Emotion”
● Too much to bear● Too many feelings
● Too easily outraged
Emotional Dissonance
“Intolerable emotion...leads people to avoid the thing that upsets them.
(For these people), it’s a mistake to assume that outrage is low; their outrage is intolerably high.
To reach them, arousing more outrage isn’t what’s needed; instead, we need to help them bear the outrage they’re already feeling.
Source: Climate Change Risk Communication: The Problem of Psychological Denial http://www.psandman.com/col/climate.htm#emotion
“Intolerable Emotion”
● Too much to bear● Too many feelings
● Too easily outraged
--> Avoid thinking about it, looks like apathy
Emotional Dissonance
B E E T T S
B E E T T S
What you Buy
What you Eat
Energy you use
How you Travel
Talk about it
Support each other
B● Sustainable cutlery set?● Lunchbox?● Waterbottle?
● Eat less meat● Cut out beef, reduce pork● Grow own produce
● Take cold showers● Switch off lights● Energy efficient appliances
Start with little actions
E
E
Actually, household decisions make a huge difference
● “We highlight the importance of environmental pressure arising from households with their consumption contributing to more than 60% of global GHG emissions and between 50% and 80% of total land, material, and water use.”
● “Mobility, shelter, and food are the most important consumption categories across the environmental footprints.”
Source: Ivanova et al., Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption, 2015, Journal of Industrial Ecology
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
IndiaIndonesia
ChinaSouth Africa
RussiaTaiwan
SwedenSouth Korea
FranceJapan
ItalyNorway
SwitzerlandNetherlands
GermanyDenmark
United KingdomCanada
AustraliaUnited States
Carbon Footprint of household consumption per person per year (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent)
Selection of countries: Consumption emissions/pp/yr
World average = 3.4
Source: Ivanova et al., Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption, 2015, Journal of Industrial Ecology
50
200
266
11
43
22
45
39
40 (35 - 45)
47
84.5 (56 - 113)
88 (80 - 96)
135 (96 - 174)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Less animal protein (one meat-free day per week)
Shift to a healthy diet
Shift to a vegetarian diet
Optimised thermostat settings
Optimised ventilation behaviour
Reduction of room temperature by 1°C
Reduction of room temperature by 2°C
Virtual meetings
Teleworking
Fuel efficient driving style
Buying and using an plug-in hybrid
Buying and using a smaller car
Buying and using an electric car
CO2 Million tonnes (Maximum realistic mitigation potential in the EU)
Potential of Mobility, Shelter, Food Behaviour Changes
Source: J Faber et al., “Behavioural Climate Change Mitigation Options and Their Appropriate Inclusion in Quantitative Longer Term Policy Scenarios”, Delft, CE Delft, April 2012
Carpool
BikeBus & Trains
Less hot water use
Optimizeaircon use
Less foodwaste
Less foodmiles
Thank you