Psychological Contributions to Environmental Sustainability
- Climate and environment
We are delighted to invite you to the first South East of England Branch event on 'Psychological Contributions to Environmental Sustainability', supported by the Institute of Psychology, Business and Human Sciences, University of Chichester.
Join us for a series of talks exploring sustainability from individual, societal, and economic perspectives.
This event will be held at:
- Assembly Room
Council House
North Street
Chichester
PO19 1LQ
How to take part
Registration must be made online.
Please note: when booking online, you are leaving the BPS website and will be directed to Oxford Abstracts.
The booking for this event is being provided by Oxford Abstracts on behalf of BPS. Both the BPS and Oxford Abstracts terms and conditions and privacy policies will apply.
Register now
Registration closes on 04 October 2024.
Keynote Talk 1: Psychological Balance in the Climate and Ecological Crisis
Dr. Louise Edgington is a Chartered Educational Psychologist specializing in Wellbeing in Climate Education.
Understanding our psychological responses to climate change is arguably the missing piece of the puzzle in much of the climate action and policy we see today. Why is it that some people are stuck or unaware, while others devote their lives to protest and activism?
In this presentation, we take an overview of the climate psychology insights that contribute to healthy climate change engagement – a crucial step towards society's transition to a sustainable way of life.
We consider the psychology of:
- 'Stuckness' or denial. What are the cognitive biases make it hard for us to take action on climate change?
- Overwhelm, including 'doomist' narratives and the risk of youth and activist burnout
- How to engage in balanced, healthy climate action and influence change
- Working with eco-emotions for resilience
We will also reflect on the steps that the BPS is already taking and consider how far we, as mental health and psychological professionals can support the changes we need to see.
Keynote Talk 2: Is Psychology Part of the Solution or the Problem for Sustainability?
Terry Sexton is a Leadership Psychologist and author of Consciousness Beyond Consumerism: A Psychological Path to Sustainability.
Many scholars and commentators argue that the root cause of society's sustainability problems is our separation from nature, each other and our spiritual self.
Informed by his ongoing PhD research, Terence Sexton will explore how psychology's materialist perspective on consciousness may have partly caused these separations by giving us the illusion of our individuality.
While it has no agreed definition, consciousness can be considered to encompass all our inner dimensions (values, beliefs, worldviews/ paradigms and associated internal capacities).
As our society's goals, structures, rules and politics emerge from our inner dimensions, they offer deep leverage points for change. To realise this change, it will be argued that a post-materialist perspective on consciousness is needed for us to experience our human nature being embedded in nature at large.
This means our understanding and application of psychology needs to be not just individual or social but relational at heart. As transpersonal psychology is a whole-person psychology (bringing together mind, body and spirit) that helps people grow beyond their ego-identifications, it is relational at its heart. It recognises that we belong not only to human communities but also to our planetary ecosystem and our flourishing is completely entwined with the flourishing of non-human life on earth.
The talk will conclude by arguing that through applying transpersonal psychology, with a post-materialist perspective on consciousness, psychology will be able to be part of the solution, and not the problem, as we seek to create a sustainable society.