Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Key Phrases: Climate change, Vulnerable country, Heatwaves, Natural factors, Human factors, Burning fossil fuels, Deforestation, Attitudinal and behavioural aspects, Psychological barriers, Climate-friendly, Educating and communicating, Systematic planning, Command-and-control approach.

Why in News?

• Human behaviour is changing the climate and humans are, in turn, affected by the climate change in the form of natural calamities, infectious disease, pollution, etc.
• This leads to formulation of adaptation and mitigation strategies which may include, among others, behaviour change to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

Climate change in India:

• India is the 13th most vulnerable country to climate change.
• Since more than 60 per cent of its agriculture is rainfed and it hosts 33 per cent of the world's poor, climate change will have significant impacts on the food and nutritional security.
• Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.
• In May 2022 severe heatwave was recorded in Pakistan and India. The temperature reached 51 °C.
• Climate change makes such heatwaves 100 times more likely.
• Without climate change heatwaves, more severe that those that occurred in 2010 are expected to arrive 1 time in 312 years. Now they are expected to occur every 3 years.

What causes climate change?

The climate on Earth has been changing since it was formed 4.5 billion years ago. Climate change is due to two reasons:

• Natural factors:
  • Until 19th century, natural factors have been the cause of these changes.
  • Natural influences on the climate include
    • Volcanic eruptions,
    • Changes in the orbit of the Earth
    • Shifts in the Earth's crust (known as plate tectonics).
• Human factors:
  • Humans cause climate change by releasing carbon dioxide and other GHG into the air.
  • Currently there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there ever has been in at least the past 2 million years.
  • During the 20th and 21st century, the level of carbon dioxide rose by 40%.

Cause of GHG:

• Burning fossil fuels:
  • Fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal contain carbon dioxide that has been 'locked away' in the ground for thousands of years.
• Deforestation:
  • Forests remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Cutting them down means that carbon dioxide builds up quicker since there are no trees to absorb it. Not only that, trees release the carbon they stored when we burn them.
• Agriculture:
  • Planting crops and rearing animals releases many different types of greenhouse gases into the air.
  • For example, animals produce methane, which is 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
  • The nitrous oxide used for fertilisers is ten times worse and is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide!
• Cement:
  • Producing cement is another contributor to climate change, causing 2% of our entire carbon dioxide emissions.

Attitudinal and behavioural aspects related to climate change:

• Currently global discussions have hardly focussed on psychological barriers for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• Climate change-relevant behaviour is not solely individual specific but a collective psychological process.
• Factors such as institutional, societal and cultural context, norms and patterns of consumption and population, community resources, resistance to change, and individual resources come into consideration.
• Perception and measurement of environmental behaviour varies across different class of people. For ex.
  • The environmental footprint of a poor man with bare minimum requirements cannot be compared to that of a middle-class person using environmentally-friendly technology, car and appliances.

Psychological barriers for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Though climate change impacts are clearly visible globally, many people are hesitant to adopt behaviours for climate change mitigation due to several barriers.

• The barriers may be structural, such as poverty which hinder behavioural change, or psychological.
• Structural barrier:
  • The structural barrier could be addressed by social programmes and improvements in infrastructure.
  • It may be the lack of knowledge, uncertainty, reluctance to change in lifestyle, etc.
• Psychological barriers:
  • Psychological barriers may be at either the individual or social level.
  • It is indeed the more difficult one, requires coordinated efforts of psychologists, technocrats, scientists and policymakers.
  • It may be due to social norms, lack of collective initiatives, etc.
  • Habits also are part of the psychological barriers as one may be reluctant to use public transport against social status.
  • Perceived inequity is another major psychological barrier which means the perception that if others are not changing, then why I should change.
• Humans generally are hesitant to avoid project of huge investments with good monetary returns, though environmentally harmful.
• The human brain remains accustomed to practices evolved over time and climate-related problems are indeed perceived as delayed risks.
• Ignorance adds to this issue coupled with environmental numbness and uncertainty of effects of climate change which are not visible in the immediate future.
• Optimism bias and judgemental discounting, which means ‘considering climate effects as local problems and has nothing to do with global efforts’, further worsens the same.
• Lack of perceived behaviour control and certain ideologies add to the reasons for the same. As people become aged and well off, they are reluctant to be advocates for change.
• Certain religious practices are also not climate-friendly; the best example being treating climate change impacts as the curse of God and nothing to do with human intervention.
• Attachment to a particular place though it is environmentally vulnerable and mistrust towards scientific temper, reluctance to change for the cause for environment are areas for worry.

Psychological approach:

• Psychological approach can help individuals, communities, and nations to mitigate and adapt the climate change in many ways:
  • Educating and communicating with the public about climate change.
  • Preventing and treating mental health problems stemming from climate change.
  • Enhancing individual and community resilience in the face of natural disasters.
  • Planning for, and adjusting to, migrations and population displacements.
  • Facilitating rapid transitions to new forms of energy, transportation, and agriculture.

Way forward:

• Behavioural approach to tackle climate change indeed requires systematic planning coupled with intervention, and once the same is implemented, needs evaluation followed by generation of well-designed successful intervention guidelines
• The target behaviour that requires change is to be selected, and this may possibly be the one which has high GHG impact behaviour, followed by identification of factors that underlie the behaviour.
• This may be succeeded by intervention, to change the target behaviour and its identified antecedents which should be evaluated based on its impact on environment, quality of life, targeted behaviour, etc.
• An effective combination of command-and-control approach coupled with price signals through market-based mechanism could also be part of the selected intervention strategy to get the desired results.
• It will not be easy to undo the harm we have done to our environment, but it can be done. Upcoming generations will need to decide if they want to clean up our planet to bring back clean air, fresh water, and rebuild a world where all living things can thrive, or continue down the road of self-destruction.
• Youth can play very significant role in building a better world.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. Psychological barriers for climate change mitigation can be breached with the help of new approach and involvement of youth. Comment.