Climate Change and Personal Responsibility

This free online course begins by introducing some of the planetary crises facing humanity. We all experience these crises differently, and the course provides examples to illustrate the difference between biodiversity challenges and climate change. We establish the importance of understanding the effects of biodiversity while seeking to protect it. We then lay out greenhouse gas emissions by sector to help you identify where to aim your environmental efforts. The course delves into the effect of climate change on humanity, including its impact on physical and mental health. Reminding people that humans are part of nature and not apart from it helps to convince them to take care of the planet as it takes care of us.

We then explore the impact of eco-anxiety and navigate its stages. Also called ‘climate grief’, this is a psychological response to loss caused by climate change or environmental destruction. The course explains people’s experience of such emotions, which follows the Kübler-Ross cycle that outlines the stages people typically go through when grieving. Some people embrace the task of confronting climate grief while others reject it, and we examine defense mechanisms as a common response to climate change. Many people point fingers to shift blame and avoid taking responsibility and we investigate various similar defense mechanisms they employ to defuse eco-anxiety. ‘Climate trauma’ includes psychological trauma from living with the consequence of climate change and we show you how it can overwhelm our capacity to adapt, our sense of control and our systems of care. The course also covers the different ways that collective trauma manifests in society. You can discover your own ‘window of tolerance’ while confronting the devastating situations caused by climate change.

At its heart, adopting a victim mentality lets people avoid taking responsibility for their role in perpetuating climate change. This course demonstrates how to tackle such a mindset while you join the fight against environmental catastrophe. We suggest that life can have meaning under any circumstances and investigate ways to find it in the midst of a global climate crisis. We explain how to leverage your free will to positively react to eco-anxiety. Our responses typically combine rational and emotional instincts and this course shows you how to bring them together to combat climate change. This course helps you develop a sense of personal responsibility in the age of climate change. Just as importantly, we teach you how to communicate that instinct to others as a climate change ambassador.