A new generation in environmental psychology in Ireland
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.” Barack Obama, Former US President
The Climate challenge is Environmental Psychology’s challenge. As environmental psychologists we need to respond at the speed of climate change. Greta Thunberg’s words as are relevant today as they were in 2019:
Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, but I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is (Thunberg, 2019).
In an emergency people act in different ways. Environmental Psychology has 3 unique challenges as it seeks to play a part in the climate emergency response:
- Clarifying our identity (many people don’t really know what we do)
- Meeting gaps in ‘insight’ to real world problems and
- The need for more ‘outsight’ where we act beyond the confines of psychology towards an interdisciplinary teamwork and collaboration focus.
Challenge 1: Clarifying our identity
Environmental Psychology is only in its infancy in Ireland despite other countries having practiced in the field for 50 years, despite sustainability being increasingly topical. At Repsychable, we define Environmental psychology as focusing on human interactions with the world around us (both the built and natural environment) and why people may or may not adopt environmentally conscious practices. It examines our interrelationship with our physical environments which can be natural (our gardens, parks, wider countryside and coasts), or built (our homes, schools, buildings, infrastructure). Ultimately, it strives to understand how to enhance pro-environmental behaviours to adapt to the climate and biodiversity crises.
Challenge 2: Meeting insight gaps
At Repsychable, we are interested in how environmental psychology insights can help us to identify gaps and ideally help create solutions to real world problems such as:
- how to design better built environments including urban planning and development as well as sustainable travel and tourism, energy solutions that fit with the housing stock and crisis, infrastructure for renewables that fits with public perceptions
- how to meet public health challenges, both physical and mental health and to consider the impact of life style medicine and a more holistic view of health
- to understand the role of nature and its therapeutic benefits, our relationship with nature and how connected and disconnected we are, how biodiversity fits into our lives when we have social perceptions of beauty and tidiness in our natural spaces
- to understand the emotions of climate change such as eco anxiety but also courage and hope as potential levers of change
- to understand climate resilience and how to mitigate against and cope with extreme weather events like flooding and storms which are already becoming increasingly common in Ireland
- how to create stronger pro-environmental behaviours by examining issues such as lifestyle changes an how the climate story is told through marketing and media
- unearthing the diversity of individuals and populations to consider how to shift behaviours in a way that connects with their context
Environmental psychology studies have historically focused on quantitative research and the leading journal in the field (The Journal of Environmental psychology) made an editorial decision in 2023 to publish only quantitative work. Paradoxically, many research questions require qualitative research to understand the depth and to confront complexity. Repsychable supports that work of the IAPS network (The International Association of People-Environment Studies (IAPS) Qualitative Research Network) in its advocation for the need for qualitative research in this insight challenge https://iaps-association.org/qualitativeresearch/.
Challenge 3: An ‘outsight’ challenge
If we garner insights within environmental psychology we need to fuse these with the ‘outsight’ of other disciplines. We need to bring our research to policy makers and legislators, to join local and global alliances as well as the general public. It is our wish for environmental psychology to be better known both within psychology, among other disciplines and the wider public given its potential to be part of the human-side of the solutions, not just the problems of the climate crisis. It is heartening to see the drive within psychology towards a focus on climate and the environment. This same drive needs to happen outside of the academic world and into everyday settings.
Where to from here in Ireland?
Environmental Psychology needs to rise to the climate change challenge. In the future we hope to see more of a movement towards enhancing pro-environmental approaches and the creation of a compelling evidence base that is collaboratively used with other disciplines to action wider system change. As the first generation of environmental psychologists in Ireland, we feel the effects of climate change, and we hope to be a generation which will do something about it!
