Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: "What Does Climate Change Have to do with Mental Health?"
May 31, 2024May 31, 2024
"What Does Climate Change Have to do with Mental Health?"
Speaker: Lise Van Susteren, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral, George Washington University
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- 11737
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Transcript
- 00:00To be here.
- 00:03Good morning, good afternoon,
- 00:04good evening, wherever you are.
- 00:07And John Krista,
- 00:08I hope you don't mind my saying this,
- 00:10but a personal note to everyone here,
- 00:13it means a lot to me.
- 00:15John's father and my mother-in-law were
- 00:18great friends and Holocaust survivors.
- 00:20I hope it's OK. And my background
- 00:23is a painting of my mother-in-law,
- 00:27who that was an abstract expressionist.
- 00:30And it brings me great to light to have her
- 00:33here with me at least through her painting.
- 00:36So all right,
- 00:39climate change and mental health.
- 00:42I will now go to my slideshow.
- 00:46Here we are and hit play.
- 00:50All right, three main goals today.
- 00:53Please stop.
- 00:53Just make sure you share your screen.
- 00:56Oh, all right.
- 00:57I thought it had been shared.
- 00:59OK, one second,
- 01:04play. One second. Great
- 01:14way you go
- 01:17all right
- 01:25and play.
- 01:30All right. We got it.
- 01:31Perfect. OK, terrific.
- 01:33All right, Three main goals to flesh out
- 01:36the emotional toll of climate disruption.
- 01:392, to connect us not just superficially
- 01:42to the trauma of climate disruption,
- 01:44but on a deeper psychological plane.
- 01:47And 3rd, to harness the energy
- 01:49of these emotions and redirect
- 01:52them into constructive action.
- 01:54There are three parts to this presentation.
- 01:57Part one is the overview identifying
- 02:01what climate impacts carry the
- 02:04biggest psychological burdens.
- 02:06Part 2 is deepening our understanding
- 02:09of resistance and messaging,
- 02:11what promotes behavior change that sticks,
- 02:15and Part 3 action promoting
- 02:18and sustaining climate action.
- 02:20Maybe you will be, or are offended,
- 02:24as I am,
- 02:25with what sounds like dismissive responses
- 02:28to climate anxiety as more doom and gloom.
- 02:33The Wall Street Journal,
- 02:35reporting on surging climate
- 02:37anxiety in young people,
- 02:38recently referred to climate
- 02:41hypochondriasis in a recent column.
- 02:45Well off and powerful people may
- 02:47minimize or deny the climate
- 02:49crisis and their role in it,
- 02:52but for the response that is needed,
- 02:54everyone needs to realize the
- 02:56reality and with that the urgency.
- 02:59We have already reached and
- 03:01reached tipping points,
- 03:03which if you invite me back sometime
- 03:05I'll discuss someone understanding of
- 03:07the reality of the threat registers.
- 03:10I'll start with a short account of an
- 03:13experience I had a number of years ago,
- 03:16although it would be malpractice now.
- 03:18Doctors in the past would sometimes
- 03:21downplay or hide life threatening
- 03:23diagnosis from their patients.
- 03:26To protect them, they would say,
- 03:28from the emotional toll, of course.
- 03:31To protect themselves of course as well.
- 03:35I was a medical student in France.
- 03:37A middle-aged woman with a history of
- 03:40breast cancer was hospitalized for back pain,
- 03:42which was in reality metastasized from her
- 03:45breast cancer that had gone to her spine.
- 03:48In the hallway outside her room on rounds,
- 03:52the attending, in a hushed tone,
- 03:54told us all that he was going to tell
- 03:58her it was sciatica so she wouldn't be upset.
- 04:02As we swept into her room from the hallway,
- 04:05she sat upright in her bed,
- 04:07and the attending, peering into her chart,
- 04:10commented about her sciatica.
- 04:14Exhaling deeply,
- 04:15she slumped back on her pillow,
- 04:17murmuring about how relieved she was a
- 04:21Ghostamonis Duach because of my history.
- 04:25How much more had she suffered?
- 04:27I've always wondered,
- 04:28when she realized that she had not
- 04:32been told the truth, what actions?
- 04:34What actions might she have taken,
- 04:37Choices that would have been
- 04:39different had she known the reality?
- 04:42In time, I recount this to make the point.
- 04:46The public needs to know the reality
- 04:48of the dangers we face from climate.
- 04:51We especially need to address the
- 04:54truth because we can play an outsize
- 04:57role in sounding the alarm and driving
- 05:01home the need for emergency action.
- 05:04We have a collective responsibility
- 05:06to deliver these messages because
- 05:09we are trained and trusted,
- 05:11and with that comes the moral
- 05:13duty to warn and protect.
- 05:17As colleague Gary Cohen of
- 05:20Healthcare Without Harm says,
- 05:21you can't have healthy people
- 05:24on an unhealthy planet.
- 05:27Everything related to climate instability,
- 05:30all the losses, the injuries,
- 05:31the illnesses and displacement
- 05:34from extreme weather events,
- 05:36storms, floods, fires,
- 05:38heat waves, the slower moving,
- 05:41chronic and indirect impacts
- 05:43from sea level rise, droughts,
- 05:45ocean acidification,
- 05:47poor air quality,
- 05:49the spread of disease and
- 05:51problems with food and water,
- 05:53mass migrations and all the
- 05:57geopolitical ramifications carry with
- 06:00them an attendant emotional toll.
- 06:03And as a reminder,
- 06:05there is no such thing
- 06:06as physical harm alone.
- 06:08As the ancient Romans said
- 06:12mansana incorporate Sano a
- 06:15healthy body and a healthy mind.
- 06:17Physical and psychological
- 06:19states are A2 way St.
- 06:22What affects us physically
- 06:24affects us mentally,
- 06:25and what affects us mentally
- 06:27effects our physical health.
- 06:29As the grip of social and intergenerational
- 06:33injustice from inaction on climate Titans,
- 06:37our success in driving change turns
- 06:41on a defining human capacity,
- 06:44our ability to stir empathy.
- 06:47Because emotional connection is at
- 06:49the heart of what gets people to change.
- 06:53Consider how you would feel if the place
- 06:57you call home would be burned down,
- 07:00blown away, dried up,
- 07:04flooded when you could lose your possessions,
- 07:07maybe your pets,
- 07:08your livelihood, your community.
- 07:10See injuries, illness and death.
- 07:14The mix of fear, anger,
- 07:16sorrow,
- 07:17and trauma could easily drive a
- 07:20person to the breaking point.
- 07:22After extreme weather events,
- 07:24mental health professionals
- 07:26are seeing surging numbers of
- 07:28people struggling with PTSD,
- 07:30major depression,
- 07:32generalized anxiety disorders,
- 07:34and we have seen a rise in drug
- 07:37and alcohol abuse,
- 07:38domestic violence and child abuse.
- 07:42What may not fully register is the
- 07:45urgency with which we need to act.
- 07:48We are not just embroiled in climate change,
- 07:53but in a climate emergency defined by
- 07:56Earth's destabilizing climate systems.
- 08:00Air, water,
- 08:02ice,
- 08:02a rocky surface and the biosphere
- 08:06Rapidly deteriorating conditions
- 08:08are causing their upheaval.
- 08:13We'll linger on this slide.
- 08:15Moreover, climate change can be abrupt,
- 08:18not just slow and incremental,
- 08:21unleashing forces that cause breakaway
- 08:24impacts in a matter of decades or just years.
- 08:29As climate scientists the world over warn,
- 08:33the window on our ability
- 08:35to act in time is closing.
- 08:37We are reaching, and in some cases may
- 08:40already have crossed tipping points,
- 08:43the time after which planetary
- 08:47upheaval becomes unstoppable.
- 08:49Apocalyptic alterations in the
- 08:51conditions of our planet are possible,
- 08:54inconsistent with our survival.
- 08:56I recommend you learn more
- 08:59about climate tipping points.
- 09:01And it's not that I'm flogging it,
- 09:03but I wrote about them and my work was
- 09:06vetted by Michael Mann for an online book
- 09:09to be published in the next few days.
- 09:11Climate and Your Mind or e-mail me.
- 09:17Global warming is driving the
- 09:19increasing frequency and intensity
- 09:21of extreme weather events.
- 09:23They've doubled since the early 1990s.
- 09:28Some of us are lucky enough to be at a
- 09:31distance from the world's climate disasters,
- 09:33but we're not potted plants.
- 09:35Sitting here in empathic
- 09:37identification with the victims,
- 09:40it's painful seeing people drowned,
- 09:42burned, flooded, starved.
- 09:46Right.
- 09:48And when disasters are no longer
- 09:50experienced solely as acts of God or nature,
- 09:54but derived from the behavior of humans,
- 09:56they're even more harmful,
- 09:59because what happens from intentional
- 10:02negligence is harder to put behind
- 10:05us than what happens accidentally.
- 10:08Heat waves are the leading
- 10:10weather related killer in the US,
- 10:13seven times the losses from floods,
- 10:16for example.
- 10:17Nine of the top ten hottest years on
- 10:21record occurred in the last decade,
- 10:25with 2023 the hottest year likely
- 10:28for more than the last 100,000
- 10:32years in Delhi on May 29.
- 10:35Two days ago, the temperature was 127°.
- 10:40A medium rare steak is cooked to
- 10:44an internal temperature of 130°.
- 10:48Experts say without significant action,
- 10:51some cities in the Middle East
- 10:54will become uninhabitable before
- 10:56the end of the century.
- 10:57By the way, 33 million people live in Delhi.
- 11:02On July 16th, 2023,
- 11:04Death Valley here in the
- 11:07United States reached 128°.
- 11:11What are the direct effects?
- 11:13Well,
- 11:14we've all experienced some
- 11:15physical impacts of overheating,
- 11:17but heat stroke is another story.
- 11:19It is a medical emergency that
- 11:22can quickly lead to death.
- 11:24It happens when the body temperature
- 11:27keeps going up because our ability
- 11:30to cool it down under extreme
- 11:33circumstances isn't enough.
- 11:34It's a horrible way to die.
- 11:37Organs shut down, the brain swells,
- 11:40cells die.
- 11:41Literally bake to death.
- 11:44The elderly, the sick,
- 11:45the very young are at greatest risk.
- 11:49Patients taking psychotropic
- 11:51medications are particularly
- 11:53prone to heat stroke because the
- 11:57medications inhibit perspiration.
- 11:59Some indirect effects.
- 12:00Higher temperatures speed up the
- 12:03chemical reactions that form smog.
- 12:05Higher temperatures also favour stagnation
- 12:07of polluted air at ground level,
- 12:10where we breathe it in.
- 12:13Now some psychological impacts for
- 12:16which we have specific numbers.
- 12:19For each standard deviation of increased
- 12:21temperature and change in rainfall,
- 12:23we can expect a 4% increase in
- 12:27conflict between individuals and a 14%
- 12:31increase in conflict between groups.
- 12:34These findings are valid for
- 12:37all ethnicities and across
- 12:39every region of the world.
- 12:41An increase in assaults,
- 12:43murders and suicides as
- 12:46temperatures go up and rainfall
- 12:48changes must come as no surprise.
- 12:54And while any suicide is the
- 12:57result of complex forces,
- 13:00droughts from persistent high
- 13:02temperatures is a major contributing
- 13:05factor for the explosive rise in
- 13:07suicide among farmers in India,
- 13:10rural Australia and South Africa,
- 13:14and in the US and Mexico.
- 13:17And now, some bombshell news.
- 13:20If you know someone struggling with
- 13:22infertility, or you yourself have,
- 13:25you know how painful it is.
- 13:28Sperm counts in American,
- 13:30Australia and European men
- 13:32have fallen by more than 50%.
- 13:36Infertility, too, is complex,
- 13:39but exposure to an unhealthy
- 13:41environment is one 'cause it's been
- 13:45dubbed environmental castration.
- 13:46But a new factor in the mix,
- 13:49Infertility is linked to higher temperatures,
- 13:52and the decline appears
- 13:55to be transgenerational,
- 13:57transmitted to the next generation.
- 14:01Some selected chronic climate conditions.
- 14:05Drought. What to spare comes from watching
- 14:09and waiting for rains that don't come.
- 14:12Drought forces migration
- 14:14and when water is scarce,
- 14:16conflict is right on its heels.
- 14:19The UN says by 20-30, nearly half of
- 14:23everyone in the world will be living in
- 14:26countries highly stressed for water.
- 14:30Sea level rise 10s of millions
- 14:33of people live on coastlines.
- 14:36Americans worldwide,
- 14:37it's hundreds of millions,
- 14:40live within 30 feet of sea level.
- 14:44Without a sharp reduction in
- 14:46greenhouse gas emissions,
- 14:48former NASA climate scientist Doctor
- 14:50James Hansen warns we could see
- 14:53the global sea level rise of 10
- 14:56to 13 feet in as few as 50 years.
- 15:01Parts of our coastal cities would
- 15:02still be sinking above the water,
- 15:04he says, but you couldn't live there.
- 15:10Air pollution. The World Health
- 15:13Organization reports that nine out
- 15:16of 10 people breathe unhealthy air.
- 15:19Air pollution is largely result
- 15:22of burning fossil fuels.
- 15:24When coal, oil and gas are burned,
- 15:26they create pollutants that
- 15:28undergo a chemical reaction
- 15:30and form particulate matter,
- 15:32a fancy name for clumps of toxic
- 15:35stuff in the air that we can inhale.
- 15:38Warmer temperatures can speed
- 15:40up these chemical reactions,
- 15:41increasing the concentration
- 15:43of pollutants in the air.
- 15:46And while the focus is on the
- 15:482.5 Micron particulate matter,
- 15:50check out the real culprit way over
- 15:53on the right side of the slide.
- 15:55Ultra fine particulate matter
- 15:58measuring less than a Micron.
- 16:00When we inhale,
- 16:02the tiny particles evade natural
- 16:05barriers and can cross the alveoli,
- 16:08enter the bloodstream and be
- 16:11strewn throughout the body.
- 16:13They also can cross the brain tissue by
- 16:17hitching a ride on the olfactory nerve.
- 16:21The presence of this foreign
- 16:24material triggers inflammation,
- 16:25setting us up for a multitude
- 16:28of illnesses and conditions,
- 16:30including cancers, respiratory illnesses,
- 16:35cardiovascular disease.
- 16:37Permanent decreased lung volume in
- 16:39children is one reason many well to do
- 16:42families leave Beijing and other conditions.
- 16:47It is linked to dementia,
- 16:49including Alzheimer's type,
- 16:51and to other neurodegenerative
- 16:53disorders such as Parkinson's and
- 16:57amniotrophic glabulosclerosis.
- 16:58And mental health professionals.
- 17:01To be colloquial, listen up.
- 17:03Multiple lines of evidence support
- 17:06a link between neuro inflammation
- 17:08and classic psychiatric illness.
- 17:11Major depressive disorders,
- 17:13bipolar disorder,
- 17:15schizophrenia,
- 17:16obsessive compulsive disorders.
- 17:19Increased risks of psychosis.
- 17:21Rates of psychosis in young people
- 17:25have also been linked to pollution,
- 17:28and on days of poor air quality,
- 17:30visits to the ER for panic attacks
- 17:34and threats to commit suicide rise.
- 17:38Polluted air reduces cognitive performance.
- 17:43Other impacts of higher temperatures.
- 17:46Ecosystems disrupted hunger.
- 17:48Our food supply at risk.
- 17:52Climate change leads to food
- 17:54insecurity by reducing the amount and
- 17:56quality of the food we can produce.
- 18:03Crops grown under elevated atmospheric
- 18:07CO2 concentrations contain less protein.
- 18:10These micronutrient deficiencies
- 18:12are linked to cognitive disorders,
- 18:15depression, behavioral disorders,
- 18:17and mental illness,
- 18:19and a host of other physical
- 18:22illnesses and conditions and deaths.
- 18:25Maybe you are familiar with
- 18:27Aquatia Coors syndrome.
- 18:29When I was a doctor in Africa I
- 18:31saw children die of quashio cores.
- 18:33It's not something you forget.
- 18:37the United Nations Environmental Program
- 18:40has declared that transitioning to a
- 18:44low carbon plant based diet is the only
- 18:47way to save the world from hunger,
- 18:50fuel shortage, shortages and climate change.
- 18:53A global shift towards a vegan
- 18:56Egan diet is becoming essential
- 19:01vector borne and infectious diseases.
- 19:03In May 2018, the CDC warned that we were
- 19:07in danger because we were not prepared
- 19:11for an upcoming surge of illnesses.
- 19:14Lyme, malaria, Dengue fever, West Nile,
- 19:19Chikungunya, Zika, all from the viruses,
- 19:23bacteria and protozoa passed on to
- 19:26us by vectors such as mosquitoes,
- 19:29ticks, fleas, flies, rats and mice.
- 19:33And now we know that the scariest
- 19:37scenario is waiting in the wings.
- 19:40Some 70% of emerging diseases in
- 19:44humans are zoonotic. That is,
- 19:47they have passed from animals to humans,
- 19:50with an estimated 1.7 million
- 19:53more we don't know about.
- 19:58Increasing contact with vectors
- 20:00has long been known as a possible
- 20:03risk that could trip a pandemic,
- 20:06population rise, expanding urbanization,
- 20:10industrial farming of animals,
- 20:13deforestation, and the illegal poaching
- 20:15and selling of wildlife for their parts.
- 20:18Trafficking is now at crisis levels
- 20:21and are causes of zoonotic illness.
- 20:25But so is disrupted climate
- 20:27because it carries unnatural and
- 20:31unhealthy changes to ecosystems,
- 20:33forcing disease carrying animals,
- 20:35including the vectors I cited,
- 20:37to try to find new places to live.
- 20:40And some of those places
- 20:42bring them closer to humans.
- 20:45I ask this disingenuously.
- 20:46Does anyone need to be reminded of the
- 20:50mental health impacts of the pandemic?
- 20:55Selected other indirect
- 20:56impacts of ecosystems,
- 20:58disrupted biodiversity loss,
- 21:02plants and animals?
- 21:05In the last 50 years,
- 21:07wild numbers have plummeted by nearly half.
- 21:12In our fight for the climate,
- 21:13it has been said that we
- 21:14should think of people,
- 21:15not polar bearers.
- 21:17A legitimate reminder that privileged
- 21:19groups overlook the environmental
- 21:22injustices affecting people in
- 21:24places where socio economic
- 21:26challenges and systemic racism
- 21:28impede the ability to be heard.
- 21:31But animals are central to our
- 21:33existence for many reasons,
- 21:35including supporting the intricate
- 21:38relationships of natural life
- 21:40critical to our survival.
- 21:43And regarding that relationship with animals,
- 21:46an error in translation,
- 21:48Hebrew scholars tell us that it
- 21:50isn't dominion over animals that was
- 21:53written in the ancient biblical text,
- 21:56but rather that we have a grave
- 22:00responsibility to protect them.
- 22:02Extinction rates are 1000
- 22:05times higher than base rate.
- 22:08It may be 30%,
- 22:09but up to 50% a species may be headed
- 22:13towards extinction by mid century.
- 22:16We risk profound personal and
- 22:19psychosocial damage as we stray
- 22:21from the ecosystems we were evolved
- 22:24to share with other species.
- 22:27Note that there is extinction,
- 22:29complete loss of species,
- 22:31and there is functional extinction,
- 22:33very important difference,
- 22:35which means that an ecosystem
- 22:38cannot thrive or even survive
- 22:40because individual numbers of
- 22:42species are too low to maintain
- 22:45the interdependent relationship
- 22:47essential to sustain it.
- 22:51Special populations at risk,
- 22:54the emotional toll on them.
- 22:57This slide is intentionally blanketed,
- 23:00at least momentarily.
- 23:01And those special populations,
- 23:03the elderly, sick, the disabled,
- 23:05the mentally ill, the poor,
- 23:08those living in the bullseye of disaster
- 23:11prone areas along coastlines and rivers,
- 23:14tornado alleys,
- 23:15inner cities with the heat island effect.
- 23:18First responders.
- 23:19But left out of the list typically
- 23:22are those especially vulnerable,
- 23:25who are often the climate
- 23:27experts and activists.
- 23:28The climate Cassandras,
- 23:30as I've dubbed them.
- 23:31Cassandra being the Greek mythologic
- 23:33figure who was cursed by Apollo to
- 23:37see the future of future harms,
- 23:39but never to have her warnings believed.
- 23:42In the grip of images of future disasters,
- 23:46climate Cassandras can't
- 23:48get them out of their minds.
- 23:50Desperately they're
- 23:52issuing anguished warnings.
- 23:54These climate Cassandras can suffer
- 23:56with a version of the classic PTSD which
- 24:00I have dubbed Pre Traumatic Stress.
- 24:03But most of all it is young
- 24:06people who are hurt.
- 24:08Our children are aware that the window
- 24:10of opportunity to stop the worst of
- 24:12the impacts of climate change is closing.
- 24:14In Australia.
- 24:15In the first published
- 24:17Climate Change Delusion,
- 24:18a depressed 17 year old boy was
- 24:21hospitalized for refusing to drink water.
- 24:23He believed it would bring deaths to
- 24:26millions in his drought ridden country.
- 24:29I talked to the doctor at Melbourne's
- 24:31Children's Hospital who treated him,
- 24:33who did not want me to use his
- 24:36name but said he has a whole clinic
- 24:39full of kids with climate anxiety.
- 24:42I am the expert witness,
- 24:43as was noted just a a few minutes
- 24:46ago on the psychological damages to
- 24:49youth plaintiffs in three cases,
- 24:52Juliana versus the US federal
- 24:54government held versus the state
- 24:56of Montana and in a few weeks
- 24:59Navahini versus Hawaii Department of
- 25:02Transportation held was won last summer.
- 25:06It was a landmark decision based on
- 25:08the violation of Montana Constitution.
- 25:14I am the co-author of a survey also on
- 25:17climate distress in 10,000 youth from
- 25:2010 countries that was published in The
- 25:23Lancet in December 2021 that shows 3/4 of
- 25:26young people are afraid for the future,
- 25:301/2 say it says effects their daily lives,
- 25:33nearly half say they feel doomed
- 25:37and 2/3 lay the responsibility
- 25:39firmly at the feet of policy makers.
- 25:43In a few weeks of survey of
- 25:46which I am also a co-author,
- 25:49will unpacked climate distress in
- 25:5216,000 US youth measured by state.
- 25:58Children are asking should I have a baby?
- 26:00In a questioning,
- 26:01in a question increasingly being asked.
- 26:04They're worried about climate chaos
- 26:06and the carbon costs of bringing
- 26:08another person into the world.
- 26:10Children experience adverse
- 26:12climate or childhood experiences.
- 26:14Aces have a lifelong risk of
- 26:17increased morbidity and mortality.
- 26:19The repeated exposure to climate traumas
- 26:23open young people up to these same homes.
- 26:27Then there is transgenerational
- 26:30epigenetic inheritance,
- 26:31which is carried by an on off gene
- 26:34segments of our DNA that code for
- 26:37stress and produce anxiety can be
- 26:39awakened by psychological trauma
- 26:41and that activated state passed on
- 26:44to our children and their children.
- 26:47And it is an additional component of
- 26:50the mounting psychosocial threat.
- 26:54Not everything that counts can be counted.
- 26:56There are downstream social
- 26:59dimensions of climate trauma,
- 27:01for it is the unkowit insidious,
- 27:03complex and unconscious psychological
- 27:06states driven by climate trauma
- 27:09not lending themselves to studies
- 27:11and precise numbers that are the
- 27:15most profoundly damaging and Dr.
- 27:17systemic emotional condition society will
- 27:20find difficult to treat and surmount.
- 27:24The emotional toll from climate
- 27:26trauma insinuates itself into
- 27:28every aspect of our lives,
- 27:30collectively affecting the national mood,
- 27:33shaping our culture in ways that
- 27:36drive our economy, our politics,
- 27:38the quality of life in our
- 27:41communities and families.
- 27:43It increasingly effects
- 27:45how we treat each other.
- 27:48Much of the violence in the world
- 27:50can be explained by unaddressed
- 27:53anxiety emanating from fears of
- 27:56impotence and vulnerability.
- 27:58Climate change evokes a
- 28:00profound sense of both
- 28:04threats to democracy.
- 28:05I'll be very brief here because the
- 28:09geopolitical consequences are extensive.
- 28:13In times of peril and scarcity,
- 28:15people become and often regress.
- 28:19Stressed people do not make good decisions.
- 28:22They may express their fears
- 28:24in many unhealthy ways,
- 28:25including by showing anger.
- 28:27A rise in authoritarian government
- 28:30can occur for many reasons,
- 28:32among them because people often
- 28:34turn to what they perceive as
- 28:37strong leaders to protect them from
- 28:39populations that are scapegoated.
- 28:41The same people may be willing to
- 28:44trade lawn cherished values with
- 28:48the promise of perceived security.
- 28:51Heaven help us from tyrants.
- 28:53The bullies, I used to say,
- 28:55could be unleashed,
- 28:57but now I have to say heaven.
- 29:01As a former psychological profile of
- 29:05world leaders intelligence agency,
- 29:08I fear for our democratic form of life.
- 29:14Part 2. Resistance and communication.
- 29:20Why in the world don't we throw
- 29:24ourselves into action? Well,
- 29:26what does individual psychology tell us?
- 29:29What does social psychology tell us?
- 29:31A lot. Here's why we deny
- 29:36for money. Oops, what happened there?
- 29:43That's not right.
- 29:49This is oops,
- 29:50I have we have a Mission Control.
- 29:54We have a problem.
- 29:55I will find out where here we are.
- 30:00Something got mixed up,
- 30:03but I will restore it.
- 30:07Play There we go.
- 30:11All right for money.
- 30:14Short term profits are put
- 30:16ahead of our health for power.
- 30:19Politicians craving power
- 30:20certainly come to mind,
- 30:22in particular to avoid losing
- 30:24face if you've said no before.
- 30:27The confirmation bias assures that it
- 30:29is much harder for us to change our
- 30:32minds because it means admitting we
- 30:34were wrong before feeling emasculated.
- 30:36Only girly men are afraid of the weather,
- 30:39right? For heaven's sake.
- 30:41And Mother Nature,
- 30:42No darn woman's gonna push them around.
- 30:46You may be ostracized.
- 30:47Membership in a group often requires
- 30:50not challenging tightly held beliefs.
- 30:53Losing a feeling of security,
- 30:55fearing the center cannot hold,
- 30:57as Yates said, that God could let or
- 30:59the world would simply fall apart,
- 31:02can make people feel that they
- 31:05will fall apart.
- 31:06They're deeper issues.
- 31:09Climate change is a veritable
- 31:11Pandora's bugs of dark thoughts.
- 31:13We are transient beings here,
- 31:15subject to the laws of physics
- 31:17in the grand scheme of things,
- 31:19impermanent, vulnerable.
- 31:20Not the masters of the universe.
- 31:23We would like to imagine as conditions
- 31:27worsen steadily, inexorably,
- 31:29evoking awful images of the future,
- 31:31including that civilization may not survive.
- 31:35The narrative of the climate Christ is
- 31:38a metaphor for our own insignificance,
- 31:41aging and death.
- 31:43We strive to get those thoughts
- 31:45out of our minds, so we deny,
- 31:48disavow,
- 31:48and defy the science that reminds us.
- 31:52By the way,
- 31:52I haven't the slightest shred of
- 31:54a doubt that we are all suffering
- 31:56from climate anxiety now.
- 31:57Whether we know it or not,
- 31:59whether we like it or not,
- 32:00whether we admit it or not,
- 32:03there's aggression.
- 32:04Failing to confront the climate
- 32:06crisis when we know how much
- 32:08future generations are going to
- 32:10suffer does have an explanation.
- 32:12It is aggression.
- 32:14Passive, active, conscious, unconscious.
- 32:16Boil out the qualifiers and
- 32:18aggression is still there.
- 32:20How do we explain it?
- 32:22Revenge.
- 32:22Is it the ultimate narcissistic
- 32:25blow to be dead when they are alive?
- 32:28My colleagues and I would have no
- 32:30trouble calling out this out in parents who,
- 32:33for example,
- 32:34would leave their entire estate in disarray,
- 32:36knowing their competitive children
- 32:38would have to pick up the pieces.
- 32:41I have, I believe,
- 32:43rightly described in action.
- 32:45And we can say more on this and
- 32:47you can fight with me on it.
- 32:48On climate as a form of child abuse.
- 32:52An organizer of a group that has
- 32:54sought endorsers to a declaration
- 32:56stating this recently reached out to me.
- 32:58Let me know if you want to be in
- 33:01touch with them or certainly argue
- 33:03with me now. Dependency issues.
- 33:04Waiting for the magic parent
- 33:07was a technology, some genius,
- 33:09an impressive leader to come
- 33:11up with solutions that,
- 33:13as in an old cowboy movie,
- 33:15gets there just in time.
- 33:17The Deus Ex mocking a scenario
- 33:19that is not on the horizon.
- 33:22And then there's entitlement.
- 33:24The well off members of society
- 33:26sometimes rail at financial entitlements
- 33:28given to those on the lower end
- 33:31of the socio economic totem pole.
- 33:33The entitlement that is
- 33:35the most unjust is the one
- 33:38rarely mentioned leading
- 33:40a high carbon lifestyle.
- 33:4310% of the world's richest emit 50%
- 33:46of the world's greenhouse gases.
- 33:50And there's a first cousin to
- 33:52entitlement intellectualization.
- 33:53Getting bogged down in the tendency
- 33:56to do research that takes up time
- 34:00and money but lacks practical value.
- 34:02Measuring or writing about issues
- 34:05that don't change outcomes,
- 34:07satisfying our intellectual curiosity
- 34:09or the wrong headed publish or
- 34:12perish standard of academia can
- 34:14stand in the way of taking action.
- 34:17My friend Ove Huff Goldberg,
- 34:20an expert on coral reefs in Australia,
- 34:23refers to this as rearranging the deck
- 34:26chairs on the Titanic to get a better view.
- 34:30What does social psychology tell
- 34:32us about inaction on climate?
- 34:34All right, well,
- 34:35there's first of all the bystander effect.
- 34:38In 1964 in New York City,
- 34:4128 year old Kitty Genovesi was stabbed
- 34:43to death just steps from her door.
- 34:46The report was that a crowd gathered
- 34:47but did nothing to stop the killer and
- 34:50didn't immediately call the police.
- 34:51Although this was later disputed,
- 34:54it launched serious soul searching.
- 34:56Had the anonymity of the city and
- 34:59society generally become so detached
- 35:02that we were becoming indifferent
- 35:04to other people's suffering?
- 35:06Darlie and Latane, 2 social psychologists,
- 35:09studied the question and in
- 35:121968 released their report,
- 35:13described as the and described
- 35:16the bystander effect.
- 35:19So when it comes to intervening in a crisis.
- 35:24Oops.
- 35:25They found that the larger the crowd,
- 35:29the less likely we are to act.
- 35:33Think of this with respect
- 35:35to the climate lens.
- 35:37What's the effect of the crowd?
- 35:39Well, diffusion of responsibility,
- 35:43influence of what people around
- 35:45you are doing.
- 35:46No one else is taking action,
- 35:48dependency issues,
- 35:49Surely somebody else will do it.
- 35:53And I've added anonymity,
- 35:55no one knows me here.
- 35:58Factors influencing action and contrast.
- 36:01And note this important two step process.
- 36:03First,
- 36:04the situation is perceived as
- 36:06an emergency and an identifiable
- 36:09action can be taken.
- 36:14More social impacts the
- 36:19tragedy or social psychology.
- 36:21The tragedy of the Commons is a
- 36:23social phenomenon first described
- 36:25by English economist William
- 36:27Foster Lloyd in the midnight 1800s,
- 36:29in which individuals using
- 36:31a shared common resource,
- 36:34in this case it was pasture for cattle,
- 36:36act independently only in
- 36:38their personal interests,
- 36:40contrary to the common good of all users,
- 36:44and by doing so end up,
- 36:46because of their collective action,
- 36:49using up or spoiling that resource.
- 36:53Thinking climate.
- 36:56Why have are are some of us reluctant
- 36:58to discuss climate change with
- 37:00friends When we are with people
- 37:02who want to deny or disconnect?
- 37:04Our words can mess up the mood.
- 37:07Our society rewards good moods,
- 37:09not climate Debbie Downers.
- 37:11I can shut down a dinner party
- 37:14in minutes and have.
- 37:16And there is an embargo in
- 37:18my family of even mentioning
- 37:19anything connected to weather.
- 37:21Not even isn't it a nice day,
- 37:24lest it trigger a riff.
- 37:26We climate Cassandra's know our
- 37:28legitimate fears can be interpreted
- 37:31as being in a persistent bad mood,
- 37:34a contagious one at that.
- 37:36And yes, it's not only climate
- 37:38that brings stress in life.
- 37:40We have other anxieties that
- 37:42can be conflated.
- 37:43But if you aren't upset,
- 37:46you aren't listening.
- 37:48All right,
- 37:49let's turn to some messaging that works.
- 37:51Influencing people Ethically actually
- 37:57identifies the seven different
- 37:59principles of persuasion as likability,
- 38:02reciprocity, scarcity, authority,
- 38:05commitment, consistency, and social.
- 38:08This is the one I've gone with.
- 38:12Look around and see others.
- 38:17We have learned that what we
- 38:19want to hear and what drives us,
- 38:22not just a template change in our behaviors,
- 38:25but lasting change, can be very different.
- 38:29You will see focus groups that say
- 38:32people don't want to hear bad news,
- 38:34hence the facile no doom
- 38:37and gloom prescription.
- 38:39Well, here's what we know.
- 38:41Risk perception.
- 38:42If you want someone to pay attention,
- 38:46a message that contains threats is effective
- 38:50because survival instinct kicks in.
- 38:53The more likely we are to
- 38:55imagine a dreadful loss,
- 38:57the more likely we are to take action,
- 39:00because taking action reduces our anxiety.
- 39:04How we respond to stress threats
- 39:07can define coping styles,
- 39:09and this is important.
- 39:11They also can count account for our
- 39:15politics even more than actual policy.
- 39:18This is one reason why we
- 39:20may disagree about mess.
- 39:22What messages best reach people
- 39:25and convince them to change?
- 39:28Here are two coping styles extremely
- 39:31useful to know when faced with threats.
- 39:34At one end of the spectrum,
- 39:36the cognitive avoiders.
- 39:38When you tell the I'm sorry,
- 39:41the vigilance,
- 39:42those who try to manage their anxiety
- 39:45by knowing every detail of the dangers.
- 39:49At the other end of the spectrum,
- 39:51the cognitive avoiders.
- 39:52When you tell the avoiders,
- 39:54they're putting themselves at great risk by
- 39:57not taking action on climate or as we saw,
- 40:00for example, with COVID.
- 40:01They attempt to manage their
- 40:04anxiety by denying or downplaying
- 40:07the validity of the message.
- 40:10But we don't have to choose between doom
- 40:13and gloom and sugar coating the reality.
- 40:16We can reach many people with A2 part
- 40:20message that incorporates both moods,
- 40:23one that funnels us from a bystander being
- 40:27a bystander into becoming an upstander.
- 40:33Step one, getting people's attention
- 40:35by describing the gravity of
- 40:38the problem in clear language
- 40:40and then pivoting to Step 2.
- 40:43Here's what we can do about it.
- 40:45Describing actions that offset
- 40:47the feeling of helplessness by
- 40:50igniting feelings of empowerment.
- 40:56Humans are highly suggestible creatures.
- 41:01Cialdini tells us that people
- 41:03self report that taking action,
- 41:06that they take action for the planet
- 41:08because in this order and listen carefully.
- 41:11It benefits society,
- 41:13it helps save the environment,
- 41:17it saves money and lasts because
- 41:20other people are doing it.
- 41:23Except that's not true.
- 41:27The order is just the opposite.
- 41:30It is because we see other
- 41:33people doing it last.
- 41:34Believe it or not,
- 41:36countless surveys and studies show
- 41:42this because it benefits society.
- 41:44We aren't the altruistic types that we
- 41:49may think we are as a whole in society.
- 41:53Now I have to say,
- 41:54my husband says that I have to try
- 41:56to be funny and I've encouraged
- 41:58him to try to find me something
- 42:00that's really funny about climate.
- 42:03But I did put this in because I
- 42:05thought it might be useful to us.
- 42:07So I would like to say in conclusion,
- 42:10and I may have to go back a bit because
- 42:15I may have put these out of order,
- 42:17but I want to note that I know
- 42:21many of you in the audience are
- 42:23experienced presenters and that
- 42:25you have had to leave out critical
- 42:27information you wanted to share.
- 42:29If you ever have me back and can stand it,
- 42:32I would specifically address more
- 42:34about building resilience and remedies
- 42:37that help restore us in our planet.
- 42:40But I will conclude today with an
- 42:44overview of what we can do right now.
- 42:48I call it.
- 42:49And this is where I have to get
- 42:51out of the way and get back to
- 42:54my previous place where I had.
- 42:59There we go.
- 43:03And that is what we can do. I think.
- 43:07As I say, I called the three PS,
- 43:10but it grew to the five PS.
- 43:12It can help us play to our
- 43:15strengths while recognizing the
- 43:17complexity of the challenges.
- 43:19I hope that on this last recommendation
- 43:22we may start something today.
- 43:24So personal
- 43:27coolcalifornia.gov.
- 43:28It's a calculator as it says,
- 43:30for individuals, households and business.
- 43:33Very user friendly native dot eco.
- 43:37When you will look at this calculator,
- 43:39you will see easy ways to make changes
- 43:41and you will be humbled that there are
- 43:43lots of things that are more difficult.
- 43:45And it will certainly offset
- 43:48our reservations about speaking
- 43:49openly about what we know.
- 43:52There's no room certainly to be
- 43:56a good advocate if you feel like
- 43:58a bit of a hypocrite.
- 44:00So go there and work out your own carbon
- 44:05emissions and offset what you can't
- 44:09reduce and professional be an organizer.
- 44:16I would like to suggest that Yale could work.
- 44:19I've also said this recently to Saint
- 44:22Elizabeth's Hospital where I did my training.
- 44:24It's my alma mater.
- 44:26There are so many things that we can
- 44:29do as mental health professionals,
- 44:31and among them, I threw some things
- 44:33down to call for a subspecialty
- 44:35fellowship in climate and mental health.
- 44:37And I can review some of I presented
- 44:41a position paper to the APA recently
- 44:45to indicate what sorts of things a
- 44:49subspecialty fellowship could provide.
- 44:51Reach out to policy makers.
- 44:53They're driving this thing.
- 44:55They're upstream.
- 44:56We have a group called the
- 44:58Outreach and Advocacy Group,
- 44:59which is a joint project of the
- 45:01Climate Psychiatry Alliance,
- 45:02which you've heard about,
- 45:03and another group that I Co founded,
- 45:05the Climate Psychology Alliance.
- 45:07And also there is,
- 45:10there are so many opportunities to write.
- 45:15The Eco Cyclopedia is something
- 45:17that we have launched.
- 45:19I mentioned climate in your mind.
- 45:20It's coming out soon.
- 45:22These are online resources.
- 45:24We need your knowledge,
- 45:26we need your writing.
- 45:28These will be places where you can see
- 45:31your work and others can access it.
- 45:34It's free.
- 45:36And then there's political support,
- 45:39candidates who make climate the priority.
- 45:41Run for office yourself and public.
- 45:46Make sure everyone knows the
- 45:48climate actions you take.
- 45:51Don't forget the power of those social norms.
- 45:54They can take us from climate tipping
- 45:58points to social tipping points.
- 46:01And last of all, protest, as the
- 46:06late great Congressman John Lewis said,
- 46:09when you see something that is not right,
- 46:12that is not fair,
- 46:14not just say something, do something.
- 46:18Get in trouble, good trouble,
- 46:22necessary trouble,
- 46:25and I'll leave you with just one thought.
- 46:29Enough solar energy reaches
- 46:32Earth every hour to meet all the
- 46:36Earth's energy needs for a year.
- 46:39Wind provides 40 times what we need.
- 46:43We can change the world,
- 46:46but we have to be together.
- 46:48We have to be smart,
- 46:50and we have to hurry.
- 46:54Thank you.