Thread by @APA

Welcome to "Psychology Can Change Climate Change", our first Main Stage Headline Event at #APA2022. We'll be getting started in a few minutes.

APA CEO @ArthurCEvans takes the stage to welcome attendees. “Psychology is needed more now than ever before.” #APA2022

“If we are the ones to lead this change, we are all we got.”—climate change slam poet @DateofDunbar #APA2022

“Psychology has the answers to the problems that we have…you can shine a light on why we behave the way we do and use science to move us toward a more just and equitable society.”—our host, @lollybowean #APA2022

"Climate change will hit the poorest people and people of color hardest. The science is very clear...but the political science gets in the way."—@DrBobBullard #APA2022

"Zip code is still one of the most accurate predictors of health and wellbeing...that's a geography of vulnerability."—@DrBobBullard #APA2022

"When we talk about these issues, we're not talking about theory. We're talking about real people and real impact."—@DrBobBullard #APA2022

"Black and Latino populations are disproportionately burdened with breathing other people’s pollution."—@DrBobBullard #APA2022

"Young people, old people, people...we need to get busy on this. As John Lewis said, we need to get into some good trouble fighting this climate crisis now."—@DrBobBullard #APA2022

Science denial is “cafeteria denial - people pick and choose what to believe.”—@GaleSinatra #APA2022

“I’ve spent my career trying to convince people nature is worth more to us alive than dead.”—@shyla_raghav #APA2022

"Individual action can serve as a contagion. It can create this kind of community that we need to fight the climate crisis."—@shyla_raghav #APA2022

"There’s a growing body of people who are calling the climate crisis a world threat… we have what we now call climate anxiety, which is related to the climate crisis”—@lollybowean #APA2022

"Now we are seeing the lived manifestations of when we are not in sync with our environment."—
@DocSeabiscuit #APA2022

Many people report that activism and advocacy helps with their climate anxiety...it provides some sense of control and purpose.—@sdclaytonphd #APA2022

"A lot of people who report disabling levels of emotional responses to climate change also report feeling that they were ignored or their concerns were dismissed by their therapist. Validating those emotions is very important."—@sdclaytonphd #APA2022

“How do we go to the communities that are already on the frontlines of climate change, already facing those issues, and ask: what do you need from us?”—@DocSeabiscuit #APA2022

Anger is a very motivating emotion…especially in younger generations and people in other countries who rightly believe, ‘we did not cause this problem, and we are being charged to clean it up.'—@sdclaytonphd #APA2022

@sdclaytonphd "As a society, we need to think about ways to provide emotional coping skills to children who see images of the world on fire and who might be a little bit worried."—@sdclaytonphd #APA2022

@sdclaytonphd Three things we can do to impact change on climate: We need to make the climate crisis personal. We need to find meaning in the action we take. We need to get out of our comfort zones.—Dr. Christie Manning #APA2022

"Distress is a normal part of moving to action. Don't sugarcoat the climate crisis. Tell the facts about it. But there is a big caveat...if we don't find a sense of meaning and hope, we won't stay taking action."—Dr. Christie Manning #APA2022

“We need to help people overcome their discomfort for moving beyond personal actions… it’s going to take systemic change, it’s going to take infrastructure change, it’s going to take policy change.”—Dr. Christie Manning #APA2022

"I'm a climate scientist. We've known for 125 years that we humans are conducting an unprecedented experiment with the only home we have."—@KHayhoe #APA2022

Climate scientists deal with things like vorticity and heat-trapping gasses. Psychologists deal with how climate change makes people feel.—@KHayhoe #APA2022

“Half of us feel helpless and hopeless and don’t know where to start. But only 8% of us are activated. Because we don’t know the risks of inaction to us.”—@KHayhoe #APA2022

How do you talk about polar bears to get people to care? Unless you're a polar bear...you don't. You connect it to what people care about.—@KHayhoe #APA2022

“Understanding the risks of inaction isn’t enough. We need to understand the rewards of efficacy… people will change if they think what they can do will make a difference.”—@KHayhoe #APA2022

Thanks for joining us for "Psychology Can Change Climate Change". We'll be back on the Main Stage at 4 PM CT for "Psychology is Here"—see you then!