Dealing with the climate crisis: “Let a sense of unity develop”

The climate crisis is complicated – many people therefore feel overwhelmed. The psychologist Dohm advises joining forces with others and looking for solutions in everyday life. In this way, new cohesion can develop.

tagesschau.de: The climate crisis is noticeable here – October made a name for itself with record values. Nevertheless, many people do not like to deal with the topic. Why is that?

Leah Dohm: I think that a lot of people are under a lot of stress anyway. We are experiencing different crises in the world at the same time. In addition, families are burdened by the lack of care, and hospital employees are burdened by the staffing situation. So the overall stress level is very high and of course we are happy about a warm October.

At the same time, I believe that many people are already realizing that this is not just cause for joy. And we also know from psychology and research that most people are well informed that there is a problem and that we have to do something about the climate.

tagesschau.de: The consequences of the climate crisis and also the climate goals that we have set ourselves are about very long periods of ten, twenty or thirty years. Is that too far away for us to see the extent of the crisis?

dohm: We know from psychology that there is a so-called present bias. This means that our perception and our thinking are very focused on the present. When in doubt, we are more concerned with questions such as: “What do I still have to buy today” or “What do I still have to think about immediately” instead of thinking about ten years from now. And of course that is really a problem with a view to the climate. And we all have to practice looking more into the future.

tagesschau.de: But now the climate crisis is already showing its first effects. If we think of the drought and heat of last summer, for example, then the crisis is already very close to us and not only in Spain and Portugal has the number of heat deaths increased.

dohm: Absolutely. Due to the heat, due to October being too warm, due to the flood in the Ahr valley last year and so on, we realize that it affects us. And that’s threatening. Sometimes we react psychologically with resistance. But we have to look there. If we deal with the topic of heat, for example, then we find that many people died in Germany this summer.

These are often silent deaths, i.e. older people in particular who are already ill, who then suffer alone in their homes, for example, and where we have to pay attention because we do not yet have sufficient concepts for this in this country. And we also urgently need heat concepts in the hospitals, because we also know that many, many physical and mental illnesses are aggravated and worsened by the heat and many clinics are not air-conditioned.

Self-efficacy helps with motivation

tagesschau.de: How can it be possible for people to deal more with the climate crisis and not become defensive, along the lines of the motto that the crisis is too much?

dohm: This is primarily possible if they feel effective. So if I have the feeling that the climate is really bad, I kind of understand that, but I can’t do anything myself – then it’s no wonder that I tend to look the other way.

That’s why I think it’s a lot about pointing out possible courses of action that people can actually relate to in everyday life. We all still have various options for action and we should definitely use them. Because this is how we can create a secure future for ourselves and also set the course in the right direction here and now.

tagesschau.de: There is a group of people who act and do a lot, such as Fridays for Future, who regularly take to the streets. But there are also other protest actions by people who, for example, throw potato soup at works of art. How do such actions change the acceptance of the topic?

dohm: This is of course a big excitement and thank God nothing happened to the pictures. Art is also very important to me and at the same time I think that we should be careful not to start talking about the potato soup now, but instead turn our attention to the actual topic. Otherwise there is such a pull of attention that we suddenly only talk about the potato soup and the picture.

But the basic problem is clear, namely that we have to reduce emissions. And I think that we should look very specifically in this direction. Then, at best, such protests will become superfluous.

“Treating the climate crisis like a medical emergency”

tagesschau.de: So how could you get more people to feel responsible or feel they can do something?

dohm: What we have to realize is that the climate crisis also poses a health risk for us, in all specialist areas, i.e. from A for general medicine to Z for dentistry. All diseases get worse and treatment is then more difficult. People with pre-existing conditions are particularly at risk.

Mental illnesses will also increase as a result of the climate crisis and we can neither counteract this with treatment technology nor simply treat it away. We have to get down to prevention, as quickly as possible and understand the climate crisis as an emergency, analogous to a medical emergency.

That means the worst thing we can do now is not to do anything because we somehow feel overwhelmed. We should start now, preferably with the most important points first. So that doesn’t mean looking at the wound on your little finger in any way, but if there’s an emergency, you have to do a chest compression. And that’s exactly how we have to approach it now when it comes to climate.

See in your own everyday life where action can be taken

tagesschau.de: But the climate crisis is a complicated one. How do I get rid of this feeling of being overwhelmed?

dohm: That’s true, but it becomes a little more manageable once we start connecting this to our everyday lives. I’m a psychologist now, which means I can see what I can contribute from a psychological perspective. Many people, for example, are specialists for their jobs and can see what is going well there and where there is still room for improvement. Then you can tackle smaller challenges in a more targeted manner.

We also know that we are more effective when we team up with others and not just act alone. That means, if we don’t tinker around with our small behavioral changes somehow for ourselves, but if we see how it is actually in my sports club, how is it at my workplace, how is it in my church community?

What I also think is very important is that we start disclosing all emissions, that we first ask ourselves: where do they actually come from and who are the big polluters? This is not so clear to many people. And when we then start to just stick with it step by step and keep critically examining ourselves: Is what I’m doing effective now or how could I make it even more effective? Then we are definitely going in the right direction.

A new sense of togetherness can arise

tagesschau.de: How can we achieve this we-feeling? Can we all do it, or do we need politics to provide impetus?

dohm: We definitely need politics. But we also have to start with ourselves, because I think that civil society has a leading role to play in this transformation that we are facing. That means we have to put a bit of pressure there. We know from psychological research that politicians sometimes underestimate the citizens, i.e. that they trust us less than we are willing to support.

In addition, the climate crisis also has the potential to create something like a sense of togetherness if we all pull together. After all, this is a common problem that we can only solve together. So basically, even if things are going well, it can have something very common.