Essay

COP ESSAY

This essay is investigating the relationship between the psychological side of sustainability and the role of graphic design within this. The subject of sustainability is a hot topic in the media today, it is in the news, discussed regularly in conversation as well as being plastered over social media. The topic itself raises a lot of issues allowing people to disagree in a lot of areas and have strong opinions that may clash with their peers. I feel as though the topic has been discussed so much but on a level that never touches on the psychological impacts of the movement, we have all heard the stats about how many years we have until our impact on the planet is irreversible, but how is this affecting us mentally, and what is the role of graphic design within this? The definition of ‘sustainability’ is: avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance, ‘the green movement’ is a term used to describe the social movement surrounding the topic of sustainability, and climate change, a change in global or regional climate patterns; these terms will be used frequently throughout the essay.

The question this essay is investigating is ‘How can graphic design break down social barriers/norms when it comes to sustainability?’ will be discussed. Touching on topics such as Pre-TSD, social influence, and CLT, we can gather an understanding of the deeper impacts of the sustainability movement. Graphic design, can play a vital role in presenting information to a wider audience, and is an integral part of any social movement, the role of graphic design within sustainability is no different. The role of graphic design within sustainability is important to discuss as a large issue within the green movement is consumerism, there is a clear link to the products people purchase and the way they are packaged. Another role of graphic design within the green movement is within campaigns, here the crossover of graphic design, psychology and sustainability becomes evident. Issues such as these will be discussed further throughout the essay. 

How does the public psychologically relate to climate change? This is a topic not many have begun to investigate. Psychological distance is being discussed among psychologists, it is the cognitive separation between the self and other instances. Construal Level Theory (Liberman and Trope, 2008) outlines 4 key dimensions of psychological distance, spatial or geographical distance; temporal distance; distance between the perceiver and a social target, and hypothetical distance. Spence, Poortinga and Pidgeon, (2011) conducted a psychological investigation into the relationship between climate change and psychological distance. It was found that participants with a greater concern about climate change showed less psychological distance than those with a lower level of concern. The data found in this experiment shows that people’s relationship with concern impacts that psychological standpoint. Thus, making climate change to individuals' locations and social groups will be integral to promoting action. However, results showing his indicates that whilst personal, local, closer considerations of climate change are important in promoting concern about climate change, when it comes to promoting action, it may also be important to highlight the wider, global impacts of climate change as the perceived impacts of climate change on developing countries were much more important than the participants own environment. This speculation is also supported by Leiserowitz et al (2010) a survey into the attitudes Americans have towards climate change. 

Mental health is a side of sustainability and climate change that doesn’t often get discussed. The scale of climate change and how it is going to impact our planet is huge, unless we reduce emissions rapidly, the world is likely to exceed 2°C of warming. By the end of this century, warming could potentially reach 4°C, possibly more (Met Office, 2020). It is likely that there will be psychological impacts on the mental wellbeing and quality of life of the public (Clayton et al, 2011), and it is likely that these effects on mental health will be distributed unevenly. This uneven distribution of mental health wellbeing could be linked to come countries experiencing extreme weather events more frequently than others. The mental health impacts vary depending on the scale of the event, and how sudden it occurs (Fritze et al, 2008) and ‘Despite cultural variations between countries and individuals, communities show some common patterns of psychosocial responses to disasters’. 

The mental health impacts of sustainability aren’t exclusive to members of the public and those who’ve experienced natural disasters. Scientists are beginning to show signs of Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Pre-TSD) the term refers to the ‘mental anguish that results from preparing for the worst, before it actually happens’ (Stuttaford, 2014). The emotional strain environmental scientists are under is immense, there isn’t an easy release for the information they’re carrying. Psychosocial researcher Renee Lertzman (2019) talks about her struggle during her degree on environmental studies. When away on a trip with her peers Lertzman recalls talking about her true feelings towards the world, ‘and no one told me at any point to be more positive or more hopeful. Not once. And surprisingly, I found myself feeling better.’ Lertzman (2019) highlights the psychological barriers of climate change. One, the window of tolerance, when we are given too much stress to handle,
we will collapse or respond with anger. Two, the double bind, where we are ‘damned we do, damned if we don’t’, and three attunement where we need to be intune with ourselves and others to make change. ‘Mental health needs to be an integral part of any climate change survival strategy’ - Britt Wray 2019.

So how can we use what we know about psychology to encourage people to adopt sustainable habits? There have been numerous studies into social behaviour and sustainability, Demarque et al (2015), Kallbekken & Sælen (2013), (Kormos, Gifford and Brown, 2014). In 2010 Calgary, Alberta, rolled out a program called grasscycling, in which residents would leave grass clippings to naturally decompose
on a lawn after mowing, rather than bagging them to be taken to a landfill. An informational campaign had been designed to achieve this, however initial adoption rates were lower than the city had expected (White, Hardisty and Habib, 2020). A study conducted by White and Simpson (2013) highlighted that barriers related to social norms prevented the residents from adopting this behaviour. Nobody was engaging in the behaviour and that it did not seem approved of, causing people to be reluctant to engage. White and Simpson then imposed the use of descriptive norms, such as “Your neighbours are grasscycling—you can too” and injunctive norms such as “Your neighbours want you to grasscycle”. Within two weeks this resulted in almost twice as many residents leaving their grass cuttings on the lawn. 

Begin bringing in the role of graphic design within this: 

- Thinking about the impacts of this within graphic design. It is our job to create campaigns and promote climate change action in a way that isn't detrimental to the mental health of the audience. Adopting more supporting methods would be beneficial.

- Providing praise instead of fear mongering would be more beneficial from a psychological point of view. Want to prevent people from burying their heads in the sand or becoming angry at the cause since they've been pushed out of their window of tolerance.

Bibliography:

Websites:

Met Office. (2020). Effects of climate change. [online] Available at: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/ weather/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change [Accessed 27 Feb. 2020].

Stuttaford, A. (2014). ‘Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ | National Review. [online] Nationalreview. com. Available at: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pre-traumatic-stress-disorder-andrew- stuttaford/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].

White, K., Hardisty, D. and Habib, R. (2020). The Elusive Green Consumer. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2019/07/the-elusive-green-consumer [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].

Journals/Studies:

Demarque, C., Charalambides, L., Hilton, D. and Waroquier, L. (2015). Nudging sustainable consumption: The use of descriptive norms to promote a minority behavior in a realistic online shopping environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 43, pp.166-174.

Fritze, J., Blashki, G., Burke, S. and Wiseman, J. (2008). Hope, despair and transformation: climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. International Journal of Mental Health Systems.

Kallbekken, S. and Sælen, H. (2013). ‘Nudging’ hotel guests to reduce food waste as a win–win environmental measure. Economics Letters.

Kormos, C., Gifford, R. and Brown, E. (2014). The Influence of Descriptive Social Norm Information on Sustainable Transportation Behavior. Environment and Behavior

Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C. and Smith, N. (2010). Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in June 2010.

Liberman, N. and Trope, Y. (2008). The Psychology of Transcending the Here and Now. Science.

Spence, A., Poortinga, W. and Pidgeon, N. (2011). The Psychological Distance of Climate Change. Risk Analysis.

Swim, J., Stern, P., Doherty, T., Clayton, S., Reser, J., Weber, E., Gifford, R. and Howard, G. (2011). Psychology's contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change. American Psychologist.

White, K. and Simpson, B. (2013). When Do (and Don't) Normative Appeals Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors?. Journal of Marketing.

Presentations/Lectures:

Lertzman, R. (2019). How to Turn Climate Anxiety into Action.

Wray, B. (2019). How Climate Change Affects Your Mental Health.