Climate change and community psychology: exploring environmental and wider social challenges

Abstract

Climate and ecological emergencies are already adversely affecting individuals and com-munities globally. In this UK based study, both academics and young people contributed ex-amples of environmental and wider social challenges. The final lists capture many varied ex-amples reflecting both climate change (e.g., changing weather patterns) and wider ecological emergencies (e.g., biodiversity loss; pollution). The wider social challenges list captures other important issues (e.g., poverty, inequality). The paper reminds us both that the climate and ecological emergencies contain more than just climate change alone and that individuals and communities face pressing wider social challenges that may limit their ability to focus on cli-mate change. The discussion highlights the potential role of critical consciousness and the im-portance of focusing at macro levels of change.