Climate Psychology: Change Your Mind, Change The Planet

In 2006 world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck published her iconic book, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success.

Her work found that people tended to fall sharply into two categories regarding their intelligence capabilities. They either considered their intelligence as a fixed and finite quantity, or they saw it as something that had the ability to grow and change shape through learning.

The group that accepted their intelligence as fixed, whether high or low, would not spend any effort trying to increase their abilities. What else could you do if you thought change was impossible?

The group that took on a mindset growth outlook saw exponential growth in their learning capabilities.

Those that say the problems facing the planet and the population are too big to challenge are part of the fixed mindset group, unable to see themselves as agents for change, but those of us with a growth mindset know that big solutions start with small steps.

It is, as David Attenborough said, within our power to change things.

The problem is immense, but we already have the knowledge and skills to halt and reverse it. We need to reexamine our relationship with nature, working with it instead of against it, to restore our…