Tag: Climate

Categories
Science

The Psychology of Nature: Climate Change and the Anthropocene

Climate change

Climate change is happening, and the natural world is struggling. The scientific world and the media industry are signifying “doomsday”, and the evidence is accumulating. Human beings have been aware of this for a while, and in 1988 the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was created in order to tackle such problems (UN, 2017). Nevertheless, global warming is still happening, threatening to destroy our natural world and the survival of our species. Adams (2015) explained that even though there are people who know and care about climate change, they still struggle in their efforts to take individual action, and make the necessary changes. This document will address all these issues, as well as the relationship humans have with the natural world, and what happens when nature is not accessible.  For purposes of clarification, the term “nature” will be used along with Stevens’ (2015, p. 327) definition of the natural world: “those environments which have not been heavily modified by human activity”. 

According to Zalasiewicz et al. (2016), the term “anthropocene” is understood as the epoch we currently live in, which is considered the most environmentally destructive time in history due to anthropogenic (man-made) activity. In other words, the way in which people go about their daily lives (including their habits) is having a record-breaking negative impact on the environment. This suggests that human beings are in some way or another responsible for global climate change (GCC). The evidence is compelling (NASA, n.d.), and has been disseminated for such a long time that there even exists an international legal framework for it.  The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCC) took effect in 1994 and since then, it has been guiding global initiatives to reduce the greenhouse effect. Before this was the case, in 1988 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) created the IPCC (n.d.) to conduct assessments, and report information about the topic. Furthermore, Adams’ (2015) work posits the fact that there are many problems directly related to climate change; such as the potential extinction of wildlife, overpopulation, deforestation, and air pollution. Such serious threats and their increasing likelihood cause a lot of collective distress, and this has led psychologists to wonder why despite the fact that survival is at stake, and despite there being so much circulation of such information; people are still living as if nothing was happening. Adams (2015) further explained using Freud’s psychoanalytic framework that people develop defence mechanisms to protect their mind from the unpleasant knowledge of reality. This is problematic, as the urgency for taking action increases every year, and an individual behavioural focus is necessary.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS, 2019) cited in Sonnichsen (2020) conducted a national survey in 2019 where 4,224 participants from randomly selected households in the UK were interviewed face-to-face and were asked the question: “How concerned, if at all, are you about current climate change, sometimes referred to as ‘global warming’?” 45% of respondents stated that they were “fairly concerned”, 35% stated that they were “very concerned”, 13% said they were “not very concerned”, 5% stated that they were not at all concerned, and only 1% stated that they did not know. Therefore, it can be inferred that the great majority of people in the UK are conscious about climate change.  Furthermore, the same sample was asked about their beliefs in the causes of climate change: 40% believed that both natural and anthropogenic processes were to blame. 33% believed that it was caused mainly by the anthropocene. 15% believed that human activity was the sole cause, 2% were skeptical about it, and the rest either did not know or had no opinion about it. More questions were asked which showed that in the UK, changes are expected both from government and society.

Further evidence (Evans, 2019) has compounded that the behavioural impact of society on the climate is rising along with the temperatures. This means that factors such as negative affect, conflict, and psychological distress are more common as exposure to extreme weather events and threats increases. What all of the mentioned above suggests is that GCC is a result of urban, every day industrial and domestic activities (Adams, 2015; Evans, 2019). Not surprisingly, scientists are worried about a potential doomsday (Meckling, 2020), and they are not the only ones. Research (Stevens, 2015) has shown that people have higher levels of arousal when they are exposed to urban environments than when they are exposed to natural environments. This indicates that anthropogenic city life is associated with more stressful experiences than rural life. The term biophilia means “love for life” (Stevens, 2019b), and it is used to describe the way in which human beings have an inherent attraction towards and a need for nature. Evidence about embedment- the idea that the environment in which the body is located has an effect on mood and behaviour- suggests that individual identities are made and remade in the light of the world around the body (the ego; Sanchez Marrugo, 2019); and such world influences mental health (Bishop, 2015). Ulrich et al. (1991) as cited in Stevens (2015) produced evidence about how the natural world triggers relaxing psychosomatic responses, which means that it serves as a mood stabiliser. Whether it is a picture, a visualisation, or an actual trip to nature.

Moreover, Stevens (2015) highlights the importance of a restorative environment when it comes to healing. Ulrich (1984) cited in Stevens (2015) conducted research to determine whether the outside view of a window influenced the speed of recovery for patients, and found that indeed those who were able to see natural landscapes from their windows had a faster recovery and were subsequently discharged earlier than those who could only see a brick wall. This evidence suggests that exposure to the natural world is beneficial for people. Since humans have a natural need to embed themselves in the natural world due to the unique and impossible to replicate sensory stimulation provided by such an environment, it can be said that having a close relationship with nature is therapeutic. According to Louv (2005) cited in Stevens (2019a), a good descriptive term when it comes to this phenomenon is “Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD)”.  He posited that not embedding oneself in nature often enough can have detrimental effects on overall wellbeing, and this could be interpreted as a form of self-neglect because if a person does not meet their natural, psychoevolutionary needs; they can indeed forget what it feels like to love life, and might even become suicidal. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported an increase in suicide rates in recent years (Kaur and Manders, 2019), which suggests that less people are in love with life. Evidence indicates that people can heal from nature deficits through what is known as attention restoration therapy (ART; Stevens, 2015). It consists of embedding oneself in an environment that is away from urban life, and which elicits grounding and relaxation. For instance, it has been found that sunlight has a positive effect on human health when it touches the skin, as it triggers a chemical reaction and creates vitamin D, which boosts the immune system and improves mood (Stevens, 2015). Therefore, embedding oneself in natural places has many benefits. This compounds the understanding of natural environments as a necessity.

To summarise, the threat of climate change is very real and every human being is impacted by it. The natural world has an important role to play in mental health wellbeing, and lack of access to it can have detrimental effects on public health. Suicide, the anti-thesis of biophilia has been increasing in the UK. It is unclear at this point how biophilia can be elicited through the status quo in order to reduce anti-life outcomes such as suicide and global warming.

References 

Adams, M. (2015) ‘The wider environment’, in Taylor and Turner (eds) Living Psychology: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 373-409.

Ainslie, D. and Clarke, H. (2019) ‘UK Environmental Accounts: 2019’ [Online], Office for National Statistics. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/ukenvironmentalaccounts/2019 (Accessed 30 January 2020).

Bishop, S. (2015) ‘Boundaries of the self’, in Taylor and Turner (eds) Living Psychology: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 287-318.

Evans, G.W. (2019) ‘Projected Behavioural Impacts of Global Climate Change’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 70(1), pp. 449-474 [Online]. Available at https://pmt-eu.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/13ueeno/TN_annual_reviews10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103023 (Accessed 30 January 2020).

IPCC (n.d.) About [Online]. Available at https://www.ipcc.ch/about/ (Accessed 30 January 2020).

Kaur, J. and Manders, B. (2019) ‘Suicides in the UK: 2018 Registrations’ [Online], Office for National Statistics. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2018registrations (Accessed 30 January 2020).

Meckling, J. (2020) ‘It is 100 Seconds to Midnight: 2020 Doomsday Clock Statement’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [Online]. Available at https://thebulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-Doomsday-Clock-statement.pdf (Accessed 31 January 2020).

NASA (n.d.) Climate Change: Evidence [Online]. Available at https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ (Accessed 30 January 2020).

Sanchez Marrugo, B.P. (2019) TMA 02, Milton Keynes, The Open University. 

Sonnichsen, N. (2020) ‘Levels of concern about climate change in the United Kingdom (UK) 2019’, Statista, 31 January [Online]. Available at https://www-statista-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/statistics/426733/united-kingdom-uk-concern-about-climate-change/ (Accessed 1 February 2020).

Stevens, P. (2015) ‘Relationships with the natural world’, in Taylor and Turner (eds), Living Psychology: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 327-363. 

Stevens, P. (2019a) ‘6 Nature Deficiency’, DD210 Week 13: Relationships with the natural world [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1467723&section=6 (Accessed 30 January 2020).

Stevens, P. (2019b) ‘5 Biophilia’, DD210 Week 13: Relationships with the natural world [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1467723&section=5 (Accessed 1 February 2020).

United Nations (2017) Basic Facts about the United Nations, 42 edn, New York, United Nations Department of Public Information.

Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M. and Waters, C.N. (2016) ‘Anthropocene’, in J. Adamson, W.A. Gleason & D.N. Pellow (eds), Keywords for environmental studies, New York, New York University Press [Online]. Available at  https://search-credoreference-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/content/entry/nyupresskes/anthropocene/0  (Accessed 1 February 2020).

Categories
Journalism

Factual Broadcasting: Meteorology

Article
References
Article

Hippocrates believed that in order to study medicine properly, it was essential to also study the seasons. In society, people consume and debate weather forecasts on a daily basis to plan their schedules and to review plans. Nevertheless, little is ever mentioned about the ways in which such forecasts represent the bigger picture, the circumstances to come, the methods used to conduct prediction, or the bureaucratic structures that drive forward the scientistic approach to broadcasting. How does it go from data to media? This essay aims to answer such question by exploring the science of meteorology, some of its historical contexts, and some of its wide

applications.

 

We are living in an age when weather forecasting is subject to the technological development of meteorology and climatology. There are many reasons why these sciences have made it to daily news and lifestyle. Not only does meteorology allow scientists to create a more accurate picture of the past, but it also helps society understand current events, as well as possible future catastrophes. That is essentially what weather forecasting is. “It is widely accepted that the weather is something of a British obsession… an awareness of the impact of ‘weather stories’ in the media is vital if information regarding changes in the Earth’s climate are to be conveyed effectively.” (Keeling, 2009).

 

Satellites, high-speed electronic computers and telecommunication systems are not something new. Weather stations, as well as military ships and aircraft have monitored these meteorological conditions for a while. Artificial satellites such as the International Space Station record polar orbital data, which is transmitted every 24 hours- the time it takes to map the full globe (The Open University, 2016). Additional information- which often comes in the form of images- is transmitted to ground stations for analysis every hour. Satellite images are powerful because they show things that the human eye cannot see, such as invisible radiation emitted from warm planetary bodies. These remote geostationary observations are able to record an electromagnetic spectrum from space. Once the hourly sequence of satellital data is transmitted to different stations through radio signals, it is then fed to the World Meteorological Organization for global sharing. All this, mixed with locally collected surface data (wind and air masses) is what forms a weather forecast that is then disseminated through television or the Internet to the public.

 

Common measurements found within a scientific weather forecast are atmospheric surface pressure, the temperature of the air; the speed and direction of the wind; rainfall and precipitations; humidity; cloud formations; and visibility, among other things. These elements become part of extreme weather reports and climatological archives. Analog instruments used to perform such observations must first be calibrated accordingly, and used in ways that can contribute to the forecast model and the weather chart. Nevertheless, automated electronic meteorological data can be fitted and distributed in something as small as a modern digital wristwatch. According the Open University: “An automated weather monitoring station is essentially a set of electronic sensors linked to a telecommunications channel that need be little more than a mobile phone or a wireless radio link” (The Open University, 2016). This is relevant to economists, who believe that data is now a more valuable resource than oil (Elvy, 2017).

 

Postmodernism looks into how technology challenges tradition, with the Internet of Things being an undeniable portal of global interaction implemented in local structures, similarly to weather stations. News broadcasts provide individuals and audiences with relevant, formalized and public information. Data transmitted in news coverages is rarely random or isolated. Its form is structured into understandable narratives that have social and public relevance. For instance, when it comes to television broadcasts, each frame is a perspective composed of information and form (Gronbeck, 1997). Weather forecasting has a technical nature, and its tempo is rapid in television (Lutcavage, 1992). Even though this art is something acknowledged as mundane, some of the information provided in journals about this practice is quite disturbing. In April 2009, the UK Meteorological Office (the Met Office) was subjected to a media scandal following the issued summer forecast. The audience expected a “barbecue summer”, but instead, they experienced a really wet summer. Since then, the trust the people placed on the forecasters decreased, nevertheless the industry made it out unscathed from such situation (Keeling, 2009).

“These forecasts by government meteorologists in Regional Forecast Offices, formerly present in every major city, though today often restricted to major metropolitan centers… The trials and tribulation in the workaday lives of these forecasters, as well as their defeats and victories, make an interesting story. But it is not so much a scientific story as a story of the sociology of work under conditions of close management in a bureaucratized regime… The Internet as we know it today embodies not one but a series of imagined worlds, conceived in the minds of people from a variety of backgrounds and brought into existence through their dedication and hard work and through chance” (Greene, 2009).

 

In contrast, The Latin American Studies Association published an article where the impact that climate is having on society and individual well-being was explored. Among their conclusions, they stated that such predictions have become more accurate and more widely distributed than in the past (Orlove, 2011). Since 1873, The WMO has strived towards the global cooperation of the forecast model (The Open University, 2016). According to a report published by them in 1975, “meteorology offers an extremely rich and varied field of activity. In the first place, it is a physical science with broad openings for research… a fact which cannot be ignored in the study and formulation of solutions to problems of such consequence to mankind as: hunger in the world; limited resources of raw materials; man’s considerable energy needs, and; the protection of the environment” (WMO, 1975)

 

In conclusion, weather forecasts are important in society because they provide information about the past, the present and future; as well as an idea of socio-economic factors that can arise from climatological conditions. Surface stations, meteorological satellites; as well as radiosondes and aircraft, are used to conduct the required measurements that compose a weather broadcast. The media industry has played a major role in the dissemination of such predictions, which are part of a global framework that is built through internationally shared data coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization since 1873, and consumed by the masses for planning and schedule. The role of the military in weather forecasting is an area where further research can be implemented for a better understanding of the bureaucratic nature of such sciences.

References

Burton, J. (1986). Robert FitzRoy and the Early History of the Meteorological Office. The British Journal for the History of Science, 19(2), 147-176. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4026590 [accessed on April 1, 2018]

 

Elvy, S. (2017). PAYING FOR PRIVACY AND THE PERSONAL DATA ECONOMY. Columbia Law Review, 117(6), 1369-1459. Available at:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/44392955 [accessed on April 1, 2018]

Greene, M., and Fine, G. (2009). Isis, 100(1), 195-197.

Gronbeck, B. (1997). Tradition and Technology in Local Newscasts: The Social Psychology of Form. The Sociological Quarterly, 38(2), 361-374. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4120741 [accessed on April 3, 2018]

 

Hippocrates (n.d). On Air, Waters and Places. Available at: classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/airwatpl.mb.txt [accessed on April 1, 2018]

Keeling, S. (2011). Weather forecasts – a matter of trust. Geography, 96(1), 16-21. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41320321 [accessed on April 1, 2018]

 

Lutcavage, C. (1992). Authentic Video in Intermediate German. Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3530869 . [accessed on April 1, 2018]

 

OpenLearn, (2016). Watching The Weather. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Available at: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/environmental-science/watching-the-weather/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab [Accessed on April 9, 2018]

 

Orlove, B., Taddei, R., Podestá, G., & Broad, K. (2011). ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENSHIP IN LATIN AMERICA: Climate, Intermediate Organizations, and Political Subjects. Latin American Research Review, 46, 115-140. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41261394 [accessed on April 1, 2018]

 

World Meteorological Organization (2014). Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation. Saint Petersbourg, WMO-No. 1138. Available at: https://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1138_en.pdf [accessed on March 31, 2018]

 

World Meteorological Organization (2018). WMO Statement on the state of the global climate in 2017. Geneva, WMO-No. 1212. Available at: https://library.wmo.int/opac/doc_num.php?explnum_id=4453
[accessed on April 1, 2018]

 

World Meteorological Organization (1975). Seventh World Meteorological Congress. Geneva, WMO-No. 428. Available at: https://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_428_en.pdf [accessed on April 1, 2018]

Categories
History Journalism

The Past

2018

"The reconstruction of past climate provides an opportunity to learn how the Earth system responded to high concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). To obtain information about the state of the atmosphere before instrumental records began, combinations of proxies are used in which physical characteristics of past environmental conditions are preserved. Tiny bubbles of ancient air captured in ice cores when new snow accumulating at the top solidified into ice, can be directly measured and give some insight into the composition of the atmosphere in the past"

World Meteorological Organization