Original version
Global Sustainability. 2020, 3:e33, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.27
Abstract
In the first half of 2020, a dramatic, fast and widespread series of changes occurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in behaviors, mindsets, culture, and systems. Yet, despite the intergovernmental calls for precisely this kind of fundamental, transformative change across society regarding global warming, public opinion on climate change is fractured and collective action is slow. More research is needed on the psychosocial dimensions of climate change, to better understand what the bottlenecks are for realizing transformative change. In this paper, I examine what occurred in the COVID-19 pandemic response that could be learned for the climate crisis. I focus on three psychological aspects that made the COVID-19 response accessible and actionable in a way that climate change is not: the mental demands for under-standing complex issues; psychological distance and its impacts on motivation and agency;and finite attentional resources that can render certain issues as non-salient. Lessons for climate engagement include: (1) the usefulness of concrete, simple, and personally-relatable messaging; (2) more diverse and democratized climate understandings and stories; (3) greater recognition about how psychological distance affects meaning-making and sense of agency;and (4) appreciation of attentional crowding and the need for sense-making strategies about complex issues.