Aquarium Forum Examines Psychology of Climate Change

November 1, 2016

On November 2 the Aquarium hosted a day-long forum bringing together climate scientists and psychologists to develop strategies to motivate people to act on climate change. The ideas developed during the Aquarium forum will be captured in a set of programs that will be tested and evaluated at the Aquarium with its visitors over a twelve-month period. Video from the day’s proceedings is archived on the Aquarium’s website .

The forum was inspired by climate scientist and Jungian psychologist Jeffrey Kiehl’s new book, Facing Climate Change. Forum participants included Kiehl, biologist and paleontologist Anthony Barnosky, science communicator and exhibit designer Tom Bowman, psychologist Thomas Doherty, biologist and geologist Elizabeth Hadly, artist and architect Rori Knudtson, engineer and designer Heidrun Mumper-Drumm, climate scientist Richard Somerville, psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes, economist Gernot Wagner, psychiatrist Peter Whybrow, scientist and exhibit curator Deborah Zmarzly, and Aquarium President and CEO Jerry Schubel.

After the forum, the Aquarium will publish a report on its findings, including a summary of the forum discussions and recommendations, and share this with other informal science learning institutions throughout the country at no cost. New climate change programming based on the research will be unveiled at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Southern California on Earth Day 2017.