Abstract:
Environmental degradation and climate
change issues have become inevitable discussions both at
national and global levels. The devastating climate
change is unequivocal as the world faces heightened rates
of temperatures leading to escalated rise in sea levels
rendering thousands of people homeless. More than often
whenever global warming is mentioned, most ecologist,
environmentalist, and conservationists mind are
perturbed with the exacerbated loss of biodiversity,
daunting rates of deforestation,water scarcity, the loss of
soil fertility, increasing soil salinity, loss of habitats,
natural catastrophes, air pollution, diminishing fossil
reserves, ecosystem imbalances, and disturbances not
forgetting the escalated populous pressure on the limited
natural resources and conflicts between man and the
environment. The threats and shortages cannot be
assumed. Calls for man to reconcile with the
environment have been voiced extensively but not
sufficient enough to restore and preserve the
environment. Climate change and environmental
obliteration is not an abstract issue. The problem starts
and ends with humanity. The need to save and recreate
our environment is imminent and requires
multidisciplinary collaborative efforts stemming from
natural resource management fields to social sciences
and far more. Environmental degradation is due to the
human activities and the coexistence with their
surroundings. Psychologists have an indispensable role in
evaluating and addressing the integration and
interrelatedness between man and the environmental
problems. They have the potential of promoting
ecologically sensitive and more sustainable behaviors
among people by applying the psychological principles
based on the population’s attitudes, values, norms,
beliefs, cultural history, and heritage. This paper
elucidate the potential of environmental psychologists in
alleviating the environmental degradation and climate
change consequences by evaluating the system thinking
theory, human dimensions, and ecological resilience.
