The psychology of climate change

Climate change is first and foremost a human behaviour problem – the starting point isn’t the polar bears, it’s us and our overconsumption.  Yet how often do we see images representing the changing climate, with no people in them? Deforestation, melting ice caps, poisoned rivers, are all presented as something for the scientists and environmentalists to sort out, while the rest of us feel an increasing sense of anxiety.

We have failed to act on climate change not for a dearth of knowledge but from a deep feeling of powerlessness and an inability to collaborate at the scale that’s required of us.

In everything that I do I am always answering one question: how can we move from feeling disempowered to regain our agency? That is not just coach speak.

Empowerment and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. When someone says “I won’t” on the inside they are often telling themselves “I don’t believe I can/I don’t know how”.

Climate change has left whole nations, multinationals and governments with a sense of being powerless to act that looks a lot like not taking responsibility. I feel a personal responsibility to help people feel confident that they can act and that it will make a difference. As a systems coach, I believe that everyone has a role to play in moving us forward. There is no greater system than that of our climate, and we only stand a chance of solving such big, systemic problems when we tackle them together. To do that, we must first begin to believe that we can, and then connect well to each other to help more people get onto the pitch.

I co-wrote the first book on how coaching can help us to make the big psychological shifts needed to address the climate crisis. In it we share practical skills that can help galvanise long-term climate action and help companies and movements to bring everyone with them in change. Find out more here!