Page - 296 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

296 • Environmental behaviours needed later this century cannot be fully known in advance. • Attentional vitality and psychological equipoise are needed for behaviour change. • Clusters of behaviour must be adopted; serial, incremental change will not suffice. • Conditions can be created under which citizens become behavioural entrepreneurs. 13.1 Introduction How  ever vast were the resources used to create techno-industrial society, they were never limitless. And how ever massive was the waste sink that these societies made out of the atmosphere, it is no longer able to absorb their wastes. Biophysical limits and the consequences of having disrupted the Earth’s ecosystems lead to an unmis- takable outcome: starting this century, citizens of these societies will consume fewer resources and live more simply. Unfortunately, their current worldviews, goals and behaviours are not prepared for this new reality. Certainly, it is possible to live at a dramatically lower energy and material flux. Indeed, almost all of human history occurred within a pre-industrial low-energy context, and such an existence is commonplace for much of the current global popu- lation. However, the comforts and conveniences of techno-industrial society are unlikely to be possible under the new biophysical context outlined below. Thus, the focus of this chapter is on helping the citizens of such a society weather their inevi- table transition to a more frugal existence, and it is the experiences and behaviours of those individuals to whom this chapter will refer. A decline in resource availability occurring alongside a need to respond to cli- mate disruption will upend life patterns and is not welcomed by reasonable indi- viduals. Nonetheless, this looming reality is as well documented as it is stark. Consider that, near the end of this century, addressing climate disruption alone requires that we produce below a tenth of current greenhouse gas emissions, and probably requires a comparable reduction in consumption of energy and materials. The environmental community has long argued for significant reductions in con- sumption and emissions, but never have order-of-magnitude changes been envisioned. Our species’ adaptive, entrepreneurial nature suggests that we might respond well to this new reality under certain conditions. The needed changes will place a priority on clear-headedness, the ability to thoughtfully plan and manage behaviour and a willingness to continuously build new competencies. These capacities, in turn, depend on mental well-being (see Part II, this volume). After introducing how the new biophysical context has created a new behavioural context, this chapter sug- gests how to help people to respond well to this new reality. R. De  Young