IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v173y2022i1d10.1007_s10584-022-03398-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

At the intersection of mind and climate change: integrating inner dimensions of climate change into policymaking and practice

Author

Listed:
  • Christine Wamsler

    (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS))

  • Jamie Bristow

    (The Mindfulness Initiative)

Abstract

Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avert climate change and environmental disaster. In particular, they fail to address the need for a fundamental cultural transformation, which involves a collective shift in mindsets (values, beliefs, worldviews and associated inner human capacities). Whilst scholars and practitioners are increasingly calling for more integrative approaches, knowledge on how the link between our mind and the climate crisis can be best addressed in policy responses is still scarce. Our study addresses this gap. Based on a survey and in-depth interviews with high-level policymakers worldwide, we explore how they perceive the intersection of mind and climate change, how it is reflected in current policymaking and how it could be better considered to support transformation. Our findings show, on the one hand, that the mind is perceived as a victim of increasing climate impacts. On the other hand, it is considered a key driver of the crisis, and a barrier to action, to the detriment of both personal and planetary wellbeing. The resultant vicious cycle of mind and climate change is, however, not reflected in mainstream policymaking, which fails to generate more sustainable pathways. At the same time, there are important lessons from other fields (e.g. education, health, the workplace, policy mainstreaming) that provide insights into how to integrate aspects of mind into climate policies. Our results show that systematic integration into policymaking is a key for improving both climate resilience and climate responsiveness across individual, collective, organisational and system levels and indicate the inner human potential and capacities that support related change. We conclude with some policy recommendations and further research that is needed to move from a vicious to a virtuous cycle of mind and climate change that supports personal and planetary wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Wamsler & Jamie Bristow, 2022. "At the intersection of mind and climate change: integrating inner dimensions of climate change into policymaking and practice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:173:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-022-03398-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-022-03398-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-022-03398-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-022-03398-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 641-672, June.
    2. Hulme,Mike, 2009. "Why We Disagree about Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521727327, January.
    3. Naresh Giangrande & Rehema M. White & May East & Ross Jackson & Tim Clarke & Michel Saloff Coste & Gil Penha-Lopes, 2019. "A Competency Framework to Assess and Activate Education for Sustainable Development: Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals 4.7 Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Adam Corner & Lorraine Whitmarsh & Dimitrios Xenias, 2012. "Uncertainty, scepticism and attitudes towards climate change: biased assimilation and attitude polarisation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 463-478, October.
    5. Hulme,Mike, 2009. "Why We Disagree about Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521898690, January.
    6. W. Neil Adger & Jon Barnett & Katrina Brown & Nadine Marshall & Karen O'Brien, 2013. "Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 112-117, February.
    7. Carla Guerriero & Andy Haines & Marco Pagano, 2020. "Health and sustainability in post-pandemic economic policies," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 494-496, July.
    8. Klaus Jacob & Caroline Paulick-Thiel & Julia Teebken & Sylvia Veit & Mandy Singer-Brodowski, 2021. "Change from Within: Exploring Transformative Literacy in Public Administrations to Foster Sustainability Transitions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kira J. Cooper & Robert B. Gibson, 2022. "A Novel Framework for Inner-Outer Sustainability Assessment," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Christine Wamsler & Gustav Osberg & Jeroen Janss & Liane Stephan, 2024. "Revolutionising sustainability leadership and education: addressing the human dimension to support flourishing, culture and system transformation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Tanja Russell, 2024. "A ‘greenhouse affect’? Exploring young Australians’ emotional responses to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(5), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Markus F. Peschl & Alexander Kaiser & Birgit Fordinal, 2023. "Enabling the Phronetically Enacted Self: A Path toward Spiritual Knowledge Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Derric B. Jacobs & Lori A. Cramer, 2020. "The relationships between social capital and concerns for climate change with increasing wildfire risks in rural communities in Central Oregon," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 10(1), pages 12-30, March.
    2. Sylvie Geisendorf, 2016. "The impact of personal beliefs on climate change: the “battle of perspectives” revisited," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 551-580, July.
    3. Sandra Ricart & Jorge Olcina & Antonio M. Rico, 2018. "Evaluating Public Attitudes and Farmers’ Beliefs towards Climate Change Adaptation: Awareness, Perception, and Populism at European Level," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Amelia Sharman, 2013. "Mapping the climate sceptical blogosphere," GRI Working Papers 124, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    5. Rachel A. Howell & Stuart Capstick & Lorraine Whitmarsh, 2016. "Impacts of adaptation and responsibility framings on attitudes towards climate change mitigation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 445-461, June.
    6. Anita Wreford & Suzanne Peace & Mark Reed & Justyna Bandola-Gill & Ragne Low & Andrew Cross, 2019. "Evidence-informed climate policy: mobilising strategic research and pooling expertise for rapid evidence generation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 171-190, September.
    7. Natalie Slawinski & Jonatan Pinkse & Timo Busch & Subhabrata Bobby Banerjeed, 2014. "The role of short-termism and uncertainty in organizational inaction on climate change: multilevel framework," Working Papers hal-00961226, HAL.
    8. Andreas Bjurström & Merritt Polk, 2011. "Climate change and interdisciplinarity: a co-citation analysis of IPCC Third Assessment Report," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 525-550, June.
    9. Tammy Tabe, 2019. "Climate Change Migration and Displacement: Learning from Past Relocations in the Pacific," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Felix J. Formanski & Marcel M. Pein & David D. Loschelder & John-Oliver Engler & Onno Husen & Johann M. Majer, 2022. "Tipping points ahead? How laypeople respond to linear versus nonlinear climate change predictions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-20, November.
    11. Kate Elizabeth Gannon, Mike Hulme, 2017. "Geoengineering at the ‘edge of the world’: exploring perceptions of ocean fertilization through the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation," GRI Working Papers 280, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    12. Janet Judy McIntyre‐Mills, 2013. "Anthropocentrism and Well‐being: A Way Out of the Lobster Pot?," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 136-155, March.
    13. Markus Dressel, 2022. "Models of science and society: transcending the antagonism," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Sanober Naheed & Salman Shooshtarian, 2021. "A Review of Cultural Background and Thermal Perceptions in Urban Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    15. Friederike Hartz, 2024. "“We are not droids”– IPCC participants’ senses of responsibility and affective experiences across the production, assessment, communication and enactment of climate science," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(6), pages 1-21, June.
    16. Hall, C. Michael & Amelung, Bas & Cohen, Scott & Eijgelaar, Eke & Gössling, Stefan & Higham, James & Leemans, Rik & Peeters, Paul & Ram, Yael & Scott, Daniel & Aall, Carlo & Abegg, Bruno & Araña, Jorg, 2015. "No time for smokescreen skepticism: A rejoinder to Shani and Arad," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 341-347.
    17. Nancy Menning, 2018. "Narrating climate change as a rite of passage," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 343-353, March.
    18. Mercedes Bleda & Elisabeth Krull & Jonatan Pinkse & Eleni Christodoulou, 2023. "Organizational heuristics and firms' sensemaking for climate change adaptation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6124-6137, December.
    19. Richard Matthew, 2014. "Integrating climate change into peacebuilding," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 83-93, March.
    20. Chhetri, Netra & Ghimire, Rajiv & Wagner, Melissa & Wang, Meng, 2020. "Global citizen deliberation: Case of world-wide views on climate and energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:173:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-022-03398-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.