Helping Change Behavior towards Climate Change
By Hannah Boesche
What is your favorite outdoor activity? Whether it’s being on a lake, being in the sun breathing the fresh air, or even winter activities like skiing or sledding, there is a great possibility that your favorite outdoor activity has been impacted by climate change. As we are all aware, climate change is a major issue in today’s world. Human behavior is the main source of dangerous levels of carbon dioxide on Earth. There isn’t one solution to stop climate change. There are multiple things you can do to help the planet.
To help save our planet, we need to work together as people and figure out what behaviors we can do to minimize the damage.
Working together is the only way we can make an impact. In this blog, I will be informing you about ways to limit your carbon footprint, giving you more awareness about the phenomenon of climate change. I will also talk about how the political spectrum may be a bias to your belief in climate change.
According to NASA climate change is defined as “a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates”. We are already experiencing the effects of climate change such as extreme weather. We have suffered severe droughts, powerful storms, extreme heatwaves, and more. According to Ocko (2021) “Earth has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, since the 19th century, before industry started to boom. A warmer world-even by a half-degree Celsius- has more evaporation, leading to more weather in the atmosphere. Such changing conditions put our agriculture, health, water supply and more at risk”.
I believe climate change can be invisible to some people. There is a trend of psychological barriers that limit climate change action. Bergquist et al. (2019) showed that after experiencing a climate change event like Hurricane Irma, participants reported stronger negative emotions when thinking about climate change compared to before. These results show us that people’s emotions will change if they are personally affected by extreme weather events. Experiencing an extreme weather event is a useful way for researchers to understand how people interpret climate change. I believe the first step, and possibly the best step, is to understand people’s thoughts and emotions when presented with a topic like climate change.
Politics has an influence on our perspective of climate change. Many political leaders think the changes we are seeing on earth are real, yet there are some who believe climate change does not exist. Because of this, trust in our climate scientists differs. According to Pew Research Center, “trust in climate scientists is low among Republicans; and considerably higher among liberal Democrats”. This does not mean that every Republican does not trust climate scientists and it also does not mean that every Democrat trusts climate scientists. Pew Research explains, “across the board, from possible causes, to who should be the one to sort this all out, liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans see climate-related matters through vastly different lenses.” Democrats on one hand believe that environmental catastrophes are headed our way if we do not change our policies and our behavior. Many Republicans believe the actions to address climate change will make no difference. We need our leaders to provide recognition about what is going on and put pressure on the government to make a plan. It all starts with them.
Humans have control over their behavioral contributions. Saving energy, taking public transportation, eating more vegetables, throwing away less food, and recycling are all great ways to make Earth a cleaner place. Any “green” behaviors will go a long way. Possibly the best way to decrease the rate and limit of damage we have done to our climate is by reducing people’s gas emissions. As gas emissions continue to rise, we have fewer trees to help combat the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. For others who want to help combat this issue more than just the simple steps I provided, I suggest you use your voice and join an organization to help spread awareness and raise money to help the fight. Consider looking into one of the Top 50 Non-Profit Organizations Working to Stop Climate Change. We need to take part and try to stop the effects of human behavior on climate change. Take action in your home and your surroundings to help ensure our planet is on the right track to a cleaner future.
References
Bergquist, M., Nilsson, A., & Schultz, P. W. (2019). Experiencing a severe weather event increases concern about climate change. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 6. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00220
Ocko, I. (2021). This is why fighting climate change is so urgent. Environmental Defense Fund. https://www.edf.org/climate/why-fighting-climate-change-so-urgent
NASA. (2022, April 14). Overview: Weather, Global Warming and climate change. NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/resources/global-warming-vs-climate-change/
Pew Research Center. (August 21, 2020). The politics of climate change in the United States. Pew Research Center Science & Society. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2016/10/04/the-politics-of-climate/