Speaking of Psychology - Bonus Episode: Psychologists Address Climate Change

Episode Date: December 24, 2019

This special episode features a report by APA’s Kim Mills, who attended the first-ever International Summit on Psychology’s Contributions to Global Health in Lisbon, Portugal, in November. The summit – sponsored by APA and the Association of Portuguese Psychologists -- brought together leaders of psychological associations from more than 40 nations on five continents to explore ways of applying psychological science to the global problem of climate change. Watch the video - https://youtu.be/UHD1tWC4I-k Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to a special episode of Speaking of Psychology, a podcast from the American Psychological Association that explores the connections between psychological science and everyday life. I'm your host, Caitlin Luna. This special episode features a report by APA's Kim Mills, who attended the first ever International Summit on Psychology's contributions to global health in Lisbon, Portugal in November. The summit, sponsored by APA and the Association of Portuguese Psychologists, brought together leaders of psychological associations from more than 40 nations on five continents to explore ways of applying psychological science to the global problem of climate change.

The summit kicked off with several psychologists describing climate change's impact in their countries. Jean Young-Che, Secretary of External Affairs for the Korean Psychological Association, described how microdust is engulfing the country and noted evidence suggesting a connection between dementia and exposure to the fine particles. Ava Thompson, past president of the Bahamas Psychological Association, noted the increasing frequency and power of hurricanes in the Caribbean. And Brian Dixon, Director of Scientific Issues for the New Zealand Psychological Society, described how flooding is devastating his city and surrounding areas.

Well, we're a coastal nation, and all of our borders are threatened by, climate change with increasing sea levels, increasing storm events. But we also have problems with our glaciers, lake snowfall, and those are major tourist attractions for us. And our food production areas which are subject to drought and flooding more frequently now than they have been in the past. Our territorial realm covers a lot of the Pacific, which means that a large number of climate change migrants and refugees

are likely to come to our country, which would place a huge stress on our health systems, our mental health systems, and just our community resources. The attendees issued a proclamation committing each organization to work together on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Number 13, which calls for taking action to combat climate climate change and its impacts. They also adopted a resolution committing them to, among other things, helping people prepare for and adapt to climate change, even as psychologists work to change

the behaviors that have caused it. The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebello de Sousa, addressed the summit telling attendees they had chosen the right subject to tackle first because of the global nature of climate change. We must have a global response to it. then there's not a single country, even a superpower, that can alone address this issue. Many of the attendees agreed with the president's assessment. Dr. Christine Roland Levy, president of the International Association of Applied Psychology, was one. We really have to be global and take into account the differences in terms of cultures, in terms of habits, in terms of global warming as a whole.

problems are not always the same. Focus should be different according to countries, but we should, and we need to have the same goal, protect the planet, make it a better world for the future, make it a better world for the future generations. So that's the main point. APA CEO, Dr. Arthur Evans Jr., called the meeting a landmark for psychology around the world.

He and Francisco Miranda Rodriguez, president of the Association of Portuguese Psychologists, agreed to continue to continue to provide administrative support to the international associations after they return home and begin to implement some of the tactics agreed upon. These will include a systematic review of existing research, plus new cross-cultural research, seeking increased funding from government and philanthropic sources

and conducting interdisciplinary workshops and conferences. Other ideas that emerged included holding sessions on climate change at each association's annual conference, devoting special issues of their journals to the time. topic, sponsoring publicity campaigns and training psychologists about how to change behavior and help people cope with climate change and climate disasters. I think that people came with some energy and excitement about the topic, but I think people are leaving with a commitment to really work on this issue going forward.

And not only that, I think we educated each other, both having experts that came to the room and to the room to talk with us, but also people who had lived experience. psychologists who were in countries that were affected by climate change, and they had an opportunity to talk about the psychological impact and toll in the world that they saw psychology playing. So I think that combination was really powerful. Thank you, Kim Mills, for that interesting report from the summit in Lisbon. I hope we'll have more to say about psychology and climate change in the coming months. For more information about the summit and to view a video of portions of the meeting, go to our website, speaking

of psychology. You can find previous episodes of Speaking of Psychology on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also go to speakingof psychology.org. I'm Caitlin Luna with the American Psychological Association. Thanks for listening.