The Climate Psychologist

Introducing Team Members! Fred Branfman: “Do Our Children Deserve to Live”

by Margaret Klein SalamonClimate psychology, Human Climate Movement, Moral Responsibility, Thinktivism December 20, 2013December 20, 2013No Comments

The best thing about having the blog The Climate Psychologist is all of the allies it has connected me to. Climate change is a global issue, and meeting activists (and thinktavists!) from around the world has been exhilarating and enriching. Some of the people I have connected with deeply agree with my psychological, “person-to-person, Pledge …

Revised Human Climate Pledge

by Margaret Klein SalamonHuman Climate Movement December 12, 2013January 26, 201410 Comments

Since publishing, “Answering the Question of our Time, Together,” I have received lots of excellent feedback on Human Climate Movement strategy, and on the Human Climate Pledge itself. I have revised the Pledge to incorporate this feedback. (And, in a week or so, I will release a revised version of the proposal.) **This Pledge is for …

Creating the Human Climate Pledge App (and State of the Blog updates)

by Margaret Klein SalamonBlog Stuff, Human Climate Movement, State of the blog December 4, 2013December 20, 20133 Comments

I apologize for my recent pause in posting! (Interrupted only by my recent post about Climate Collaborative’s outstanding video.) My excuse is that I have been focused on creating the foundation for a person-to-person, pledge-based Human Climate Movement. Here is a brief report on my activities: 1) Moving Human Climate Movement strategy forward, by working …

“Moral Power for Climate Action” Video from Climate Collaborative

by Margaret Klein SalamonBlog Stuff, Emotions, Living in Climate Truth December 2, 2013No Comments

This is a Climate Psychologist milestone! While I have, until now, posted only original content, this video, by Climate Collaborative provides a fantastic reason to change it up. Moral Power for Climate Action From the video: “When I look at my own 3-year old daughter, I almost never allow myself to think about climate change and …

Answering the Question of Our Time: Strategy Proposal and Call to Collaboration

by Margaret Klein SalamonUncategorized November 19, 2013April 3, 20142 Comments

**4/3/14 Update: This document (Answering the Question of Our Time) is now highly outdated. Its greatly-improved sequel, Rising to the Challenge of Our Time, Together, is now available! I highly recommend you read that, instead (Or read both if you are interested in tracking the evolution of this idea!) I have been hard at …

Climate Change: It’s Personal. Want to be Involved in an Upcoming Facebook Group?

by Margaret Klein SalamonEmotions, Facebook, Group Processes, Reader involvement November 8, 201313 Comments

Climate change is generally discussed from an objective, scientific, fact-based angle. But what of our subjective, psychological experience of climate change? What about the emotions it stirs, the relationships it alters, and the hopes and fears it inspires? To help explore these questions, I am excited to announce the (upcoming) Facebook group, “Climate Change: It’s …

Best Metaphors for the Climate Crisis

by Margaret Klein SalamonClimate Writing, Emotions, Metaphors, Reader involvement October 23, 2013May 30, 202317 Comments

Use of Metaphors in Therapy and beyond. Therapists, especially of the psychoanalytic persuasion, love and value metaphors. Metaphors are vivid, creative interpretations of reality that communicate on multiple levels. Like dreams, metaphors integrate rational thought with fantasy, imagery, and emotion; they are simultaneously rational and irrational. Therapists use metaphors to explain psychological concepts, like, “You …

Physical vs. Psychological Growth: The Teenage Dilemma!

by Margaret Klein SalamonEmotional growth, Emotions October 17, 2013October 17, 20133 Comments

It has been interesting to read political and environmental critiques of economic growth, coming from a psychology background. Gus Speth, for example, devotes a good portion of “Bridge at the End of the World” to arguing against the doctrine of infinite economic growth. Environmentalists and progressives decry the evil of economic growth, often calling it …

State of the Blog: Pacing Myself & Exciting Projects

by Margaret Klein SalamonBlog Stuff, Reader involvement, State of the blog October 14, 2013October 14, 2013No Comments

As some may have noticed, my rate of posting on the Climate Psychologist has slowed to some degree, and I plan to maintain it at this slower rate, posting 1-2 pieces a week. This is emphatically not because my commitment to this blog, or to the cause of fighting climate change, has flagged. On the …

Divestment: A Small Part of Harvard’s Failure to Lead on Climate Change

by Margaret Klein SalamonUncategorized October 9, 20137 Comments

Last week, President Drew Faust announced that Harvard would not be divesting the endowment from fossil fuel investments. While this is a disappointment, it is a small one compared to Harvard’s broader failure to sound the alarm on climate crisis, and to take an active leadership role in the social movement that must fight back …

First Strategy Proposal: Ezra on Movement Organization

by Margaret Klein SalamonUncategorized October 7, 2013October 7, 2013No Comments

I’m very excited to share with everyone the first open-sourced strategy proposal I received for the Human Climate Movement. It is submitted by Ezra (last name: Mystery-man. 🙂 This is a “partial” proposal; meaning it is an addition to my proposal of “Person-to-person, pledge based approach” which I describe here. Ezra’s proposal addresses an element …

Ready to Get Involved?

by Margaret Klein SalamonUncategorized September 29, 2013September 29, 20135 Comments

Over the past week I have been contacted by a few readers telling me that they are ready to take the next step and get involved in some way. This is fantastic and extremely encouraging. I very much want to use this blog to foster and coordinate activism. I have a lot of ideas. To …

State of the Blog Part 2: Ideas!

by Margaret Klein SalamonHuman Climate Movement, Ideas!, Reader involvement, State of the blog September 26, 2013September 26, 20134 Comments

In the previous State of the Blog post, I discussed my goals for the Climate Psychologist; my hope that my writing can contribute to building, empowering, organizing, and uniting the Human Climate Movement in order to wake humanity up from denial and fight back. In this post, I will share my ideas for future writing …