3. Introduction How do people feel about global warming? We are told by scientists and activists that, if we are to mitigate its worst predicted consequences, we must act decisively and immediately. The science of climate change tells us that global warming is genuinely dangerous and statistically inevitable. It is also immediate, it is happening now. Its effects have been evident for many years and will become more severe in the coming decades. Emotions are the prime motivators of action, without them we do nothing. In popular discourse, emotions, particularly fear, play a more prominent role. This presentation considers some of the psychological effects of global warming in people, animals as well as some studies that demonstrate it.
4. What is Global Warming? “ Global Warming’ is the expected slow, gradual warming of the lower layers of the Earth’s lower atmosphere by the slowly increasing concentrations of man-made greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, and to a lesser extent methane. These gases trap infrared radiation , which is the “heat radiation” that cools the Earth. (In order for the Earth to remain at a constant temperature, the Earth must lose as much energy through infrared radiation as it gains from the sun. This concept is called energy balance.) The burning of fossil fuels, mainly petroleum and coal, produces carbon dioxide as one of the by-products”( Spencer. R, 2007)
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6. 1. Certain level of concern and awareness: Apparent increases in global extreme continue to generate concern over this issue . 2. Pessimist and aggressive thoughts 3. Increase of anger 4. Increase a person willingness to hurt another person 5. Increase of violent crimes
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9. Studies have shown … “ In the 1990's the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported on two studies that examined the relation between hotness of year and violent crime rate in the United States from 1950 to 1995. One study found that summer produced more violent crime—murders and assaults—than the other seasons. If high temperature was a direct cause of the summer effect, then years with more hot days (days in which the maximum temperature is at least 90F) would have somewhat larger increases in murder and assault than years with fewer hot days. This prediction was confirmed by the data.”( Anderson, C., PhD , 2007)
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18. Conclusion As you can see, an understanding of fear and how it works suggests that trying to scare us into action, as many of the popular texts on global warming seek to do, could be counter-productive. We need to find alternatives to fear more appropriate emotional stimuli to motivate an effective response to global warming. Finding those alternatives could be the most urgent and important problem the human sciences ever have to address. Global warming represent a serious issue that deserves careful consideration.
