Down your way: The Climate Changing Room

The South-West Branch task force is planning member events focused around climate change and I've joined the committee because of an interest that emerged from my community volunteering: How psychologists can contribute to climate adaptation at a local level, maybe through projects such as the one I describe here. 

After a career in counselling psychology, I'm retired from paid employment and am trustee of a community development trust in North Devon. I was briefly involved with the initial BPS steering group on climate change until that was dissolved, and have since been following developments with the new co-ordinating group. I am both surprised and pleased to find myself back in the world of psychology although, in retrospect, it was pretty obvious as I hope this article will show.

Registering climate change 

A couple of years ago we had a heatwave where the temperature at the front of our house reached 42 degrees centigrade. It was also uncomfortably hot indoors. Like many of us, I'd been registering climate concerns in the media – floods, fires, doomy prophecies - while getting on with other things.  But standing out in the heat that day I realised, quite viscerally, that I could easily die in it, as thousands do every year in other parts of the world.

I spent a while researching and costing ways to keep the house cool – shutters, internal blinds, hi-tech external screens – until l discovered solar control glass and retrofitted our south-facing picture windows. It retains transparency while reducing 66 per cent of the incoming heat (SKN 176 should you wish to try it).

I started reading about climate change and found that what we get from the media is only part of the picture. What is happening, what is predicted to happen, its impact over the whole range of human activity. What we - individuals, communities and governments - are doing about it.  And what we are not doing. There is a large and growing literature, scientific and otherwise, about climate change; I include some suggestions below which have been helpful. 

I noticed what seasoned activists and researchers report: Once you learn about climate change and its implications, you can't unlearn it.  This brings its own emotions - fear, hope, frustration…. and the odd spark of dark humour. There is a sort of fascinated horror about the big picture; of this giant climate process which we've driven out of all proportion, and which is slowly but inevitably shaping present and future lives. Yet I'm encouraged to discover so many people around the world who are working on ways forward on so many fronts.   

The Climate Changing Room

In response to all that, the Climate Changing Room project was born. The name identifies the physical building which we are fundraising to build as a home for the project; and also the personal, psychological space within which adaptation has to occur. Our aim is to provide accurate and balanced information about climate and environmental change, its impact and what is being done about it around the world. 

To provide guidance on local adaptations and signposting to study and occupational opportunities. Above all, to generate hope for the future and increased confidence in being able to respond to climate change in your home, workplace and community.

The planning team has met weekly for 18 months, doing the groundwork of local consultations and events, a lot of fundraising and managing a Facebook page. The new building will provide information and displays with talks, workshops and events by climate and environment-focused organisations from across Devon. 

For example, we have offers of contributions from Natural England, the Woodland Trust, RHS Rosemoor, the North Devon Biosphere Partnership and Petroc University College. We are in contact with groups such as Community Action Groups Devon, with its many towns and villages focused on sustainable living, and with other climate hubs and groups. 

The clear belief among people working in this area is that adapting to a climate-changing world can only be achieved by people and organisations pulling together.

The Climate Changing Room appears to be a straightforward information service and yet, as one of the team neatly put it, we shall be having conversations about climate change. Conversations that are more than the pros and cons of heat pumps, even if we knew about such things. Climate change is going to require profound psychological and cultural change, yet we don't have any kind of societal forums for debate or planning for what you might call everyday adaptation. Challenging but supportive conversations about climate change and the future: What it means for daily life. What dilemmas will arise. What adjustments will be required. What sort of people we may become. 

What psychologists can offer

Psychologists work with climate anxiety and with trauma from the experience of floods, wildfires and dislocation; and with secondary mental health concerns arising from climate impacts. They may also be well-equipped to support climate adaptation as a preventative and developmental process. That role is outlined in the recently published Road Map of the BPS Climate and Environment Action Coordinating Group, together with suggested member network actions, something that the South West Branch is beginning to explore.   

Down our way, the Devon Carbon Plan and Adaptation Strategy, comprise a well-researched, top-down approach to reducing emissions and preparing for major climate risks such as sea-level rise, flooding and extreme weather. 

It aims to build individual resilience and community safety while proposing that local communities construct their own adaptation strategies to suit local needs and conditions. If psychology has a part to play, my purely personal view is that the following may be useful at a local level; there will certainly be other options:

• User-friendly frameworks for understanding and discussing climate adaptation;
• An understanding of how the evolution of the brain has led to ways of thinking that make it difficult to deal with climate change, and the implications for climate adaptation;
• Identifying intrapersonal conflicts and dilemmas around transitions to more sustainable living;
• Psycho-education for adapting to change and the stresses that accompany it; 
• Information about the psychological impact of specific factors e.g. weather conditions, urban living, poverty and deprivation;
• Understandings of culture shock and transition that can be applied to the experience of climate change;
• Pathways to building hope, resilience and the motivation to make changes; and 
• Guidance on public communication and engagement for community leaders.

A facilitative role

In the current economic climate, it is unlikely that there will be funding for climate psychologists to be appointed to local authorities and partner organisations. Apart from specifically funded projects, it will be down to those who are able to contribute from around their paid work commitments. It is important to recognise this constraint as it indicates a primarily advisory and facilitative role, which psychologists are used to, and which can reach a larger population. 

Psychologists may usefully work with and through elected councillors, particularly the climate and sustainability leads and officers for each council; with leaders of health and education organisations, with community groups and - he said hopefully - with projects such as ours. 

Climate change is here to stay and ours is a long-term project based in an established charitable trust. It is early days but three features are encouraging: We have endorsements from all three levels of local government; offers of support from a range of environment and climate-focused organisations; and clear evidence of local concern about climate change.   

People want to do something about it but would like more information, more guidance and clearer leadership. We would be pleased to hear from psychologists who would like to contribute in any way; perhaps particularly if you are retired or semi-retired and would like to continue to use your skills and experience in an interesting and worthwhile engagement. 

Suggested reading

Joseph Romm. Climate Change:  What everyone needs to know.  Oxford University Press (3rd ed.) 2022.

George Marshall. Don't even think about it: Why our brains are wired to ignore climate change. Bloomsbury 2014.

Elin Kelsey. Hope matters: Why changing the way we think is critical to solving the environmental crisis. Greystone Books 2020.

Morgan Phillips. Great Adaptations: In the shadow of a climate crisis. Arkbound 2021.

Rebecca Willis. Too hot to handle? The democratic challenge of climate change. Bristol University Press 2020.

References

BPS Climate and Environment Action Coordinating Group.

Community Action Groups Devon.  

Devon Adaptation Strategy. 

Devon Carbon Plan.  

Natural England.  

North Devon Biosphere. 

Petroc University College. 

RHS Rosemoor.  

Woodland Trust.  

Get in touch

Phil Topham C.Psychol. Torrington, Devon.

[email protected]

Who else is involved in an initiative that brings psychology to their community? – let us know @ [email protected]