On the 25th of September 2024, Miles gave an online talk to the Climate, Environment and Psychology Division of the Psychological Society of South Africa. The video is embedded below.

The title of the talk was: “Climate Change and Climate Justice – Reflecting on Psychology, Community Psychology, The Streetlight Effect*, Social Change and Questions of Scale” (*Not a Psychological Finding!)”.

The abstract is as follows: “Back in 2018, before the pandemic, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) noted that “rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems” were needed, that were “unprecedented in terms of scale”. Globally, these changes are not happening fast enough and limiting global warming to 1.5°C seems to be beyond us as a planet.

Against the above backdrop, this webinar, will provide no easy answers, but does seek to explore, the climate and ecological emergencies, wider social challenges and climate justice. It will discuss what this means for psychology, community psychology, and the well-intentioned people (the speaker hopefully included) who are trying to make a positive difference.

Reflecting on some of his own, limited, climate related research, and his wider activities outside of the academy, Dr Miles Thompson will share some thinking and facilitate some wider discussion around our current challenges, and both the potential and possibly the potential shortcomings of mainstream psychology and community psychologies in addressing the enormity of the unfolding poly-crisis.”

Watch the video here: