Short description:

How do we find the courage to act together against the climate crisis? This book weaves together real-life findings and examples from the social-ecological movement with psychological research to show how motivation for collective climate action can be built.

Long description:

How do we find the courage to act together against the climate crisis? This book weaves together real-life findings and examples from the socio-ecological movement with psychological research to show how motivation for collective climate action can be built.

The book addresses two key questions: how can individuals be motivated to participate in collective climate action, and how can climate groups become resilient and effective? Specifically, it explores how individuals can foster their identification with climate action groups and the belief in their joint efficacy. It touches on a wide range of topics, covering anger, moral considerations, activist burnout, and the perception of protests, as well as general theories of socio-ecological change.

This book is for anyone who is seeking the courage to act together and is curious about psychological insights. It will be essential reading for climate and environmental practitioners, climate activists and campaigners, climate change communicators, and anyone involved in socio-ecological change. It will also be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of environmental psychology, climate change, collective action, and political psychology.

Table of Contents:

Foreword

Preface

              Climate courage and the aims of this book

              Who this book is for

              The story behind this book

              Defining ?we?

              A quick bit about Wandelwerk

              Our Author Team

              Two core questions

              Building a bridge between science and practice

              Critically reflecting on findings

              What you will and will not find in this book

              References

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Overview of the psychological model

Defining collective climate action

              Examples of collective climate action

Differentiating between collective and private climate action

The Social Identity Model of Collective Action

The structure of this book

References

Part 1: Motivating for collective climate action

Chapter 2: Social identification

Defining social identification

From social identification to collective climate action

How we can strengthen identification with climate action groups

             Focus 1: Highlighting the connection to climate action groups

             Focus 2: Creating climate action groups that meet people?s needs

Discovering your social identification

References 

Chapter 3: Moral beliefs and emotions

              Defining moral beliefs

                           Core values

              From moral beliefs and emotions to collective climate action

                            Guilt

                            Anger

How we can use moral beliefs and emotions as tools for effecting collective climate action

                             Focus 1: Creating anger-eliciting situations

                             Focus 2: Using moral beliefs and anger to build external support

Discovering your value basis          

References 

Chapter 4: Framing climate action

Defining framing

Challenging existing frames

How we can create frames for collective climate action

Considering target audiences in framing decisions

References

Chapter 5: Efficacy beliefs

              Defining efficacy beliefs

                             Collective efficacy

                             Participative efficacy

              From efficacy beliefs to collective climate action

                             Building efficacy beliefs

                             Maintaining efficacy beliefs

              How we can foster efficacy beliefs

                             Focus 1: Accentuating positive changes                           

                             Focus 2: Designing group contexts that nurture efficacy

              Discovering your efficacy beliefs

              References

Chapter 6: Psychological effects of collective climate action

Action first, motivation second

Effects of an action?s success or failure

Strategies for coping with failure

              Social strategies (a social and shared mindset)

              Reframing strategies (another perspective)

              Distancing strategies (another focus)

              Changing strategies (another action)

The spillover effect between private behaviors and collective action

References

Chapter 7: Summary of the model

Applying the pillars of motivation to drive collective climate action

References

Part 2: Cultivating resilient and effective collective climate action

Chapter 8: Resilient collective action and activist burnout

              Don?t underestimate activist burnout

              Defining activist burnout

              Causes of activist burnout

                             Personal and psychological factors

                             Group norms fueling burnout

                             Problems within groups kindling burnout

              Building resilient climate action groups

                             Group-focused strategies for resilient collective climate action

                             Individual-focused strategies for resilient collective climate action

              Group exercise for assessing activist burnout

References

Chapter 9: Socio-ecological transformation

Looking at the bigger picture

Defining socio-ecological transformation

The Multi-Level Perspective

              Three levels of change

              The theory of change for the Multi-Level Perspective

The Social Tipping Point concept

              The theory of change for the Social Tipping Points

The Three Strategies of Transformation

                             Circumstances of transformation

                             The theory of change for the Three Strategies of Transformation

              The Movement Action Plan

                             The four roles within social change

                             The theory of change for the Movement Action Plan

                             Take-aways

              Common features of theories of change

              Your take on socio-ecological change           

References

Chapter 10: Effective goals for climate groups

Picking your battles: Goals and target groups

Target group descriptions

Strategies for achieving target group goals

              Achieving these goals using SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION

              Achieving these goals using MORAL BELIEFS

              Achieving these goals using FRAMING

              Achieving these goals using EFFICACY BELIEFS

              Achieving these goals using COLLECTIVE ACTION

              Achieving these goals using RESILIENCE STRATEGIES

Defining your goals and strategies

References

Chapter 11: Conclusion, recommendations, and further ideas

Final words

Research areas in need of addressing

Recommended books and videos to explore

References

Appendix: Overview of research designs

              Individual experiences

              Qualitative research

              Quantitative research

References