Making people aware of eco-innovations can decrease climate despair

Chris Neale, Maura M. K. Austin, Jenny Roe and Benjamin A. Converse ()
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Chris Neale: University of Virginia
Maura M. K. Austin: University of Virginia
Jenny Roe: University of Virginia
Benjamin A. Converse: University of Virginia

Climatic Change, 2023, vol. 176, issue 12, No 4, 21 pages

Abstract: Abstract Climate despair—a sense of hopelessness about humanity’s ability to pursue a sustainable future—is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Psychological science conceptualizes hopelessness as a cognitive schema characterized by negative expectancies. Climate hopelessness, then, may be conceptualized as a mental model that represents climate change as a massive problem with futile response options. It manifests in negative expectancies about the future. Here we show that learning about eco-innovations—novel climate-response options—can decrease climate hopelessness. Across 11 experiments (N = 3224), we found that adults (mostly from the USA) reported lower climate hopelessness after viewing videos that depicted eco-innovations (such as a high-tech, net-zero-energy city) than they did in various control conditions, including those that were unrelated to climate (such as a no-video control) and those that depicted more familiar, schema-consistent climate responses (such as living in a rural, intentional community). This research provides causal evidence that thinking about novel climate responses can contribute to a more hopeful outlook, and it identifies technological innovation as one possible seed for such messaging.

Keywords: Climate despair; Psychological science; Climate hopelessness; Technological innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10584-023-03635-9

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