The Psychology of Collective Climate Action: Building Climate Courage

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.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons (CC BY) 4.0 license.

Karen Hamann is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Social Psychology of Leipzig University, Germany. Her research concerns empowerment, collective action, visions of an ecological future, and the energy transition. She is a co-founder of Wandelwerk e.V., a collective of practice-oriented environmental psychologists of which all the authors are members.

Eva Junge works as an environmental psychologist and climate communicator. She is a co-founder of Wandelwerk e.V., an advisor for socio-ecological NGOs, and an “artivist”.

Paula Blumenschein is a research associate at TU Dortmund University, Germany. She works in the clinical and biological psychology working group with a focus on the climate crisis and mental health.

Sophia Dasch is an environmental psychologist and science communicator, specializing in climate education and consultation. She also works as a project manager at ConPolicy, an institute for consumer policy.

Alex Wernke works as a climate communication trainer for klima*kollektiv and as a freelance political educator.

Julian Bleh is a research associate at the Department of Social Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany, where his research is concentrated on the ability to envision social change.