Human Defenses to Climate Change Pt. 2 (Week 10) -Post 1

Human Defenses to Climate Change Pt.2 (Week 10) - Post 1

Solutions

Fear Defenses:

 TED TALK`:

 How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action on global warming – Per Espen Stoknes

 https://www.ted.com/talks/per_espen_stoknes_how_to_transform_apocalypse_fatigue_into_action_on_global_warming

The 5 Evidence based solutions for what does work to get people engaged:

+Social –First, we can flip distance to social. We can make climate feel near, personal and urgent by bringing it home, and we can do that by spreading social norms that are positive to solutions. If I believe my friends or neighbors, you guys, will do something, then I will, too. We can see, for instance, this from rooftop solar panels. They are spreading from neighbor to neighbor like a virus. It's contagious. This is the power of peer-to-peer creating the new normal.

+Supportive –Next, we can flip doom to supportive. Rather than backfiring frames such as disaster and cost, we can reframe climate as being really about human health, for instance, with plant-based delicious burgers, good for you and good for the climate. We can also reframe climate as being about new tech opportunities, about safety and about new jobs. Solar jobs, for instance, are seeing an amazing growth. They just passed the three million jobs mark. Psychology says, in order to create engagement, we should present, on balance, three positive or supportive framings for each climate threat we mention.

+Simple nudging – Then we can flip dissonance to simpler actions. This is often called nudging. The idea is, by better choice architecture, we can make the climate-friendly behaviors default and convenient. Let me illustrate this. Take food waste. Food waste at buffets goes way down if the plate or the box size is reduced a little, because on the smaller plate it looks full but in the big box it looks half empty, so we put more in. So smaller plates make a big difference for food waste. And there are hundreds of smart nudges like this. The point is, dissonance goes down as more behaviors are nudged.

+Signals – Then we can flip denial by tailoring signals that visualize our progress. We can provide motivating feedback on how well we're doing with our problem-solving. Say you improved your transport footprint or cut energy waste in your buildings. Then one app that can share this well is called Ducky. The idea is, you log your actions there, and then you can see how well your team or company is doing, so you get real-time signals.

+Story – Finally, identity. We can flip identity with better stories. Our brain loves stories. So we need better stories of where we all want to go, and we need more stories of the heroes and heroines of all stripes that are making real change happen.

From Doom to Opposition- Ways to prevent climate change

-There is another way, too, I'd like to share with you. It starts with reimagining climate itself as the living air. Climate isn't really about some abstract, distant climate far, far away from us. It's about this air that surrounds us. This air, you can feel in this room, too, the air that moves right now in your nostrils. This air is our earth's skin. It's amazingly thin, compared to the size of the earth and the cosmos it shields us from, far thinner than the skin of an apple compared to its diameter. It may look infinite when we look up, but the beautiful, breathable air is only like five to seven miles thin, a fragile wrapping around a massive ball. Inside this skin, we're all closely connected. The breath that you just took contained around 400,000 of the same argon atoms that Gandhi breathed during his lifetime. Inside this thin, fluctuating, unsettled film, all of life is nourished, protected and held. It insulates and regulates temperatures in a range that is just right for water and for life as we know it, and mediating between the blue ocean and black eternity, the clouds carry all the billions of tons of water needed for the soils. The air fills the rivers, stirs the waters, waters the forests. With a global weirding of the weather, there are good reasons for feeling fear and despair, yet we may first grieve today's sorry state and losses and then turn to face the future with sober eyes and determination. The new psychology of climate action lies in letting go, not of science, but of the crutches of abstractions and doomism, and then choosing to tell the new stories. These are the stories of how we achieve drawdown, the reversing of global warming. These are the stories of the steps we take as peoples, cities, companies and public bodies in caring for the air in spite of strong headwinds. These are the stories of the steps we take because they ground us in what we are as humans: earthlings inside this living air

General Defenses:

TED TALK:

New Thinking on the Climate Crisis - Al Gore

https://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis

-History has presented us with a choice: We have to find a way to make [my generation] another hero generation. Founding Fathers are a hero generation.  One that ended slavery and gave women the right to vote. We have the capacity to do it! We have the capacity to put aside the distractions and rise to the challenge history has given us.

-We can be the ones to solve this crisis and lay the basis for a bright and optimistic future. 

Misinformation Defenses:

-You can be part of the solution to misinformation. Educate yourself and then share your knowledge. If people see you making a difference in your community, maybe they will to.

-Speak out on the radio & TV news

-Petition for schools in Texas and California to change their science textbooks: Inform children around of the truth about the climate crisis.

Political and Economic Influence Defenses:

-VOTE for representatives who pledge help the climate crisis. Write letters, send email, and call the current representatives about the climate crisis. Encourage them to inform themselves and speak up.

-If that does not work, run for a political office

-Support environmental lobbyists with your voice or donations

-Speak out about the injustices in the government (I know there are many, include environmental ones with your movements)

(The head of the EPA should not have lobbyist ties to a major oil company)