Resources
The Values-Action Gap: Why Climate Concern is Not Enough.
July 01, 2024 • Episode 31
In this episode of Your Brain on Climate, host David Powell interviews Gail Hochachka on the 'values action gap'. Closing this gap between what we value and how we act is the stated aim of just about all behavioural science and climate campaigns. But it is evidently difficult gap to bridge as, although most people say they care about the planet, the carbon emissions trajectories are achingly hard to bend downward. So what is the values action gap all about, and how do we actually leap it? Dave and Gail muse on this question together, examining some of her research which picks apart the values action gap in all its complexity and gives us abundant reasons to be cheerful.
SALT for Climate: Redefining Urgency and Transformation in Climate Leadership
Josh Leonard with Integral Life, Lisa Gibson and Gail Hochachka | October 30, 2024
A dialogue with Lisa Gibson, Gail Hochachka and Josh Leonard about how SALT for Climate is helping us rethink what effective climate action looks like. They explore the often-overlooked psychological and social dimensions of climate work, share insights from their work on collective sensemaking and leadership training, and explain why a focus on human dynamics may be the missing piece in our response to the climate crisis.
Deep Transformation Podcast
Gail Hochachka (Part 1) – The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding the Causes and Finding Solutions to the Great Challenge of Our Time
Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts? So far, in searching for solutions, we have largely neglected tapping into the human dimensions of the problem—the ways we understand climate change, the ways we respond, and the ways we can communicate together and make decisions about how to act.
Deep Transformation Podcast
Gail Hochachka (Part 2) – The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding the Causes and Finding Solutions to the Great Challenge of Our Time
This podcast episode continues with examining how climate change is such a hugely complex and also emotional issue, that it is understandably hard for anyone to wrap their head around it. The good news is that research is showing that taking action—in whatever way seems most appropriate and meaningful to each individual—is scalable, and that there are ways of creating meaningful communication between people who have very different understandings, to where people can actually come to a place of agreement on how to move forward.
When concern is not enough: Overcoming the climate awareness-action gap
Hochachka, G., Wise, M. and Regan, W. 2025. When concern is not enough: Overcoming the climate awareness-action gap, Nature, 4, Article number: 43.
An article that examines the gap between climate awareness and climate action, also known as the ‘values action gap.’ This Perspective article looks into the complexity of the values action gap in terms of the mental models that people hold about climate, their emotions regarding this issue, the narratives they hold about it, and the systems that surround and shape daily decisions.
Is the 1.5°C target possible? Exploring the three spheres of transformation
O’Brien, K. 2018. Is the 1.5°C target possible? Exploring the three spheres of transformation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 31; pp. 153-160, 10.1016/j.cosust.2018.04.010
Professor Karen O'Brien introduces the Three Spheres of Transformation, a framework for thinking about transformations to sustainability, and applies it to consider greenhouse gas emissions reductions in alignment with the Paris Accord.
Silencing Science: How to Respond to Disinformation and Toxic Public Discourse
Hoggan, J. and Shakespear, M. Silencing Science: How to Respond to Disinformation and Toxic Public Discourse, The David Suzuki Institute.
This paper examines the menace of disinformation invading public conversations throughout Canada, North America and around the world. This includes “organized lying” to the harassment of scientists and experts and the role that conspiracy theories and gaslighting play in shaping public confusion and stirring up polarizing conflict. Authors asked 30 experts why aggressive disinformation and propaganda have become so prevalent in public discourse, what can be done to counter it, and how to clean up the polarized public conversations it creates.
‘Sensemaking’ climate change: navigating policy, polarization and the culture wars
Gail Hochachka (Part 2) – The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding the Causes and Finding Solutions to the Great Challenge of Our Time
An article that investigates the nuances of ‘sensemaking’, resistance, and polarization in regard to climate change to better understand climate-action barriers. Findings explore how emotions about climate transitions are leveraged by disinformation messaging, obscuring an already complicated sensemaking task regarding climate change and contributing to opposition against climate policies and action.
Introduction to the Three Spheres (English audio / Norwegian pictures)
Professor Karen O'Brien introduces the Three Spheres of Transformation, a framework for thinking about transformations to sustainability.