Chapter 1~ What on Earth Are We Doing? ~

“If everyone in the world had an ecological footprint equivalent to that of the typical North American or Western European, global society would overshoot the planet’s biocapacity three to five fold.”J. Kitzes et al., (2008)

Amber GilewskiTompkins Cortland Community College

• 67% of North Americans agree that environmental conditions are worsening

• 28% say they have made major lifestyle changes to protect the environment

• 55% made some minor changes• More than 90% of U.S. residents surveyed

indicated that the United States “should act to reduce global warming, even if it has economic costs”

Environmental problems are really behavioral problems

• They are caused by the thoughts, beliefs, values, and worldviews upon which human beings act

• Human behavior is ultimately responsible for rapidly deteriorating natural systems on which the survival of all species (including human) depends

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEMThreats to the biosphere:

• Pollution• Over population• Climate change• Species extinctions• Deforestation• Ozone depletion topsoil loss• Coral reef destruction

Biology’s bottom line: Carrying capacity• The maximum number of any species a habitat

can support• If the territory is isolated and the population

cannot migrate to a new one, the inhabitants must find a balance with its resource base

• Alternatively, if the population grows too quickly so that it depletes its resources suddenly, the population will crash

Figure 1.1 The J-shaped curve of past exponential world population growth, with projections to 2050 (this figure is not to scale). Data from World Bank and United Nations; photo courtesy of NASA. (Adapted from Miller, G.T., Living in the Environment, 15E., p. 6, © Brooks/Cole, a part of Cengage Learning, Inc., 2007. With permission.)

Psychological reactions to environmental threats:

• Despair• Anxiety• Irritation• Anger• Feeling overwhelmed

The Psychological Impacts of Global Climate Change

Psychological Reactions to Environmental Threats

Boomster• Optimistic/unrealistic• Ingenuity will prevail• Belief that we’re not limited

by carrying capacity (minority view)

• Technology will save us• Believe the media is

exaggerating environmental problems/environmental skeptics

Doomster• Pessimistic/realistic• Sense of hopelessness• Viewed as giving a “doom

and gloom” perspective• Popular position (especially

amongst the younger and better educated persons)

• May not always agree on the solutions

Affluenza • An unsustainable addiction to consumption,

materialism, and economic growth• A painful, contagious, socially transmitted

condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste, resulting from the dogged pursuit of more

AFFLUENZA – PBS PROGRAM

Cultural versus biological carrying capacityI = P x A x T

• I – the impact of any group or nation• P – population size• A – the per-capita affluence, as measured by

consumption• T – the technology employed in supplying that

consumption

CONCLUSIONS:• No single academic discipline will provide the

solution to our environmental problems• Interdisciplinary collaborations are urgently

needed• Psychology has a lot to offer for understanding

how environmental degradation developed and the psychological forces maintaining it