“Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic, and natural security threats posed by climate change.” Those words were not spoken by former Vice President Al Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth.” They were spoken by Republican Sen. John McCain.

McCain is quoted in The Psychology of Climate Change Communication, written by Debika Shome and Sabine Marx. (See cred.columbia.edu/guide.)

So psychologists question: “Why aren’t Americans more concerned about climate change?” Unless we feel an immediate threat to our lives and lifestyles, we can easily say that “this won’t affect me, “ “that happens to somebody else,” “that’s thousands of miles away,” or “it’s not real anyway, just the usual change of weather patterns.”

We all suffer what is known as “confirmation bias,” where we seek narratives that support what we already think. We form our mental models and stick to them. Fortunately, we also have the ability to change these mental formations and to correct misinformation. Often times, we hear a person say climate change is not unanimously held and there are questions. In science, however, there are always questions and there may even be a few scientist skeptics (and those few are dwindling: Dr. Richard Muller, a skeptic funded by the Koch Brothers has left that fold of few and gives convincing evidence himself of the role of fossil fuels in the astounding increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.)

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger uses this metaphor for climate change science: “If 98 doctors say my son is ill and needs medication and two say, ‘No, he’s fine,’ I will go with the 98. … the key thing now is that since we know this industrial age has created it, let’s get our act together and do everything we can to roll it back.”

Besides accepting the evidence from numerous studies that climate change is happening and that we are its cause, we also need to reframe our notion of what that means. Climate change is not “just” an environmental issue: its impact is interwoven with health, the economy, and national security. “National security concerns deriving from climate change include the reduction of global food supplies, leading to large migrations of populations, increased risks for infectious diseases, including pandemics that could destabilize economies and governments; and increased fighting over already limited resources like water and land.”

Ah, so considering that last quote, might get us to another psychological response—emotional numbing—the overwhelm at facing what we’ve denied.

An antidote to emotional overwhelm is taking action, moving to personal change and individual responsibility. However, we don’t want to fall prey to another psychological pitfall of “single action bias.” In other words, if your climate change action is to take re-usable bags to the grocery store, don’t stop there. Recycle too. However, “… although recycling is important, it should be but one activity in a series of behavior changes aimed at reducing climate changes. Switching to wind or other renewable energies, consuming less meat, conserving daily energy use, and eating locally grown food are other effective ways to mitigate climate change. …”

It’s sometimes hard to accept the fact of climate change as a steady arc of global warming when September nights are cool and the slant of the light bodes that winter is coming. And when it snows, some commentator bloviates, “What warming?” Well, melting at “glacier speed” is no longer a metaphor for slow. The ice caps are melting. The seas are rising. We can choose to remain in confirmation bias, move to emotional overwhelm, or go a step in the right direction of “simple action bias.” Better yet, let that single step build to a long walk to a better world.

Speaking of walks, there will be a rally/walk for climate change awareness in New York City, Sept. 21—People’s Climate March

For further information, see edf.org/climatemarch
·         “The Psychology of Climate Change Communication,” cred.columbia.edu/guide.
·         yearsoflivingdangerously.com, Web site for the Showtime Networks cable subsidiary of CBS.

* Kayta Curzie Gajdos holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is in private practice in Chadds Ford, Pa. She welcomes comments at MindMatters@DrGajdos.com or 610-388-2888. Past columns are posted to www.drgajdos.com.

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About Kayta Gajdos

Dr. Kathleen Curzie Gajdos ("Kayta") is a licensed psychologist (Pennsylvania and Delaware) who has worked with individuals, couples, and families with a spectrum of problems. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, Gestalt therapy, EMDR, and bereavement. Dr. Gajdos developed a private practice in the Pittsburgh area, and was affiliated with the Family Therapy Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, having written numerous articles for the Family Therapy Newsletter there. She has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, the Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Dr. Gajdos has taught at the college level, most recently for West Chester University and Wilmington College, and has served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also served as consulting psychologist to the Irene Stacy Community MH/MR Center in Western Pennsylvania where she supervised psychologists in training. Currently active in disaster relief, Dr. Gajdos serves with the American Red Cross and participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Now living in Chadds Ford, in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos combines her private practice working with individuals, couples and families, with leading workshops on such topics as grief and healing, the impact of multigenerational grief and trauma shame, the shadow and self, Women Who Run with the Wolves, motherless daughters, and mediation and relaxation. Each year at Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA she leads a griefs of birthing ritual for those who have suffered losses of procreation (abortions, miscarriages, infertility, etc.); she also holds yearly A Day of Re-Collection at Temenos.Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Currently, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, The Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Delaware Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, The Association for Death Education and Counseling, and the Delaware County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry.