Climate Change and the Ecological Psychology

Abstract

The words ecology and are of Greek origin, and the father of medicine Hippocrates ancient Greece was the first who formulated the idea of communication of the human condition, including its spiritual qualities, and the environment.Ecological psychology is a definite trend of psychological science that has been formed Europe and the U.S.A. the sixties years of the last century and are grouped under the general name for at least three areas of psychological research: psychological ecology, environmental psychology and an ecological approach to perception. Currently, different departments conduct studies ecopsychology, but apart from one another, and using different theoretical foundations and methods.Kurt Pawlik, leader of the largest international program on ecological psychology at the end of the last century defines ecological psychology (or: ecopsychology) as study of mental processes the environmental conditions under which the experience and the behavior taking place in themselves without interference from the researcher. The ecological psychology studies human experience and behavior close connection with the environment and attempts to give them a theoretical justification.The starting point for eco-psychological research is the notion that mental processes, states and consciousness, mental development, learning and behavior, as well as mental health can not be viewed isolation, a particular individual with his environment and nature general.One of the most significant characteristics of the environment is the climate. It affects the psyche three ways:* The first - directly, through physiological processes;* The second - indirectly through effects on agriculture, trade, tourism and other activities;* The third - indirectly through the submission, installation, imperatives, being introduced by the media.Let us try to review those areas of psychological research, which con sider the human psyche the logic of interaction with the environment. As a result, we hope to answer the fundamental question of whether ecological psychology may be regarded as an independent area of psychological research, which has its object and methods that distinguish it from other areas of psychological theory and practice.Environmental problems.Environmental issues determining the relevance and interest ecological psychology at the present stage of its development, is the realization that the preservation of the environment on the planet and the planet as a whole ecosystem is impossible without changes human's relationship to the natural environment and to the nature of its own. In its development, the mankind had possessed powers which allow him to destroy the system of regulation of the environment. The ecological crisis - the discrepancy between the level of impact on nature and those boundaries, which should be the impact to the system of life could adequately regulate the environment. Therefore, the main work is modification of human consciousness.According to analysis by the philosopher Vittorio Hosle, the main trends of development of mankind the last century, were determined by the economic paradigm, orienting the human consciousness to the consumer attitude toward the world of nature around, to other people, and to himself.It is the dominant influence of the economic paradigm of human development has caused the technocratic nature of our civilization. And this turn led to the fact that human consciousness was formed predominantly the context of the transformation of real properties and relations of the world order to use them for survival and economic well-being. And therefore, as pointed out by Hosle, nature until the XX century remained without rights, that defines the relationship to her as an object of exploitation and consumption of its resources.One consequence of the economic paradigm has become climate change, keenly felt those regions where the ecological balance is very fragile. …