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