Sustainability - Environment Flashcards
What is Consumerism?
An ideology that encourages the acquisition of goods and services
What is Materialism?
A value system where status is determined by wealth and
ownership
What are the psychological effects of Materialism?
- Lower well-being
- Lower prosocial behavior
What are the two components of happiness?
- Positive affect: Frequency of experience of positive feelings, moods,
and emotions such as joy - Subjective Well-being:
– Satisfaction with your life
– Feeling that your life is close to an ideal one
What are the three views on the relationship between humans and nature?
- Master: Nature exists for human use and economic and technological growth can solve any environmental problem.
- Steward: Humans have a responsibility to care for nature on behalf of humanity
- Participant. Humans are part of nature and share in its health or illness.
What is an ecosystem?
The interactions between living organisms and other materials
What year did science explain global warming due to humans releasing CO2?
1824: proposed by Joseph Fourier
1896: modeled by Svante Arrhenius (Nobel prize)
1958-present: CO2 measured by Drs. Keeling
What is the Keeling Curve?
Its a graph which plots the ongoing change in concentration of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere since 1958
What is a tipping point?
The point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.
Why are tipping points so hard to predict?
- Lack of insight
- Social signaling (engaging in a behavior when somebody else is present, because that other person is present, not due to our true beliefs and personality though)
What are the 4 threats that get our attention? (the four I’s)
Intentional
Immoral
Imminent
Instantaneous
What are the 5 steps in the Theory of Emergence Response?
- Notice the Problem
- Interpret the Problem as an Emergency
- Feel Personally Responsible To Act
- Know What to Do
- Do It
Psychological barriers in noticing the problem
- Lack of information or comprehension
- Low perception of threat (the four I’s)
- Rejection of conflicting information (cultural cognition)
Psychological barriers in interpreting the Problem as an Emergency
Same as above
Psychological barriers in feeling personally responsible to act
- Self interest
- Free riding
- Belief in a just world
What is free-riding?
When those who benefit from resources, public goods and common pool resources do not pay for them or under-pay.
How can we reduce free-riding?
- Individual performance can be evaluated
- Expect to be punished for poor performance
- Individual effort is necessary for success
- The task is important to you
- The group is small
- The group is cohesive
Why do we have a belief in a just world?
We have a need to believe the world is a predictable and just place where people get what they deserve
How is a belief in a just world a barrier for action?
- It reduces the perception of a problem
- Reduces the acceptance of responsibility
What is the Classic Model of Climate Change Mitigation
Education -> Climate Change Beliefs (reality, importance) -> Behavior
What are the 3 R’s of Climate Change?
- Reality
- Risk
- Response
Reality
- Scientists are convinced that human-caused climate change is occurring.
- Harmful climate change impacts are already happening here and will get worse.
Risk
- Our climate may get worse than we expect.
- We may experience surprises – abrupt climate change or abrupt impacts triggered by gradual climate change.
Response
- The sooner we respond, the better off we’ll be.
- There’s much we can do.
What are two climate change strategies?
- Adaptation (e.g. change in land use, relocation)
- Mitigation (e.g. energy conservation and efficiency)
