Enabling grass root climate recovery: drawing on drug recovery tools to support climate behaviour change

Hocking, Pauline

Abstract

We have only a short window of time to radically reduce carbon emissions; the General Secretary of the United Nations in his closing statement at COP28 said ‘The world cannot afford delays, indecision, or half measures’ (Guterres, 2023 para 26) and public concern has never been higher. Perhaps individual climate action if mobilised could make a considerable difference.

Some analysts equate the climate problem with addiction, with the drug of choice being fossil fuels and the consumption that they enable. If addiction were to be the problem, could the tools of successful addiction recovery have something to offer to the field of climate solutions? Addiction recovery groups that follow the 12-step programme such as Alcoholics Anonymous have long been popular; evidence is now growing of their benefits and that they do work for many people. As a result, this study set out to explore the extent to which addiction recovery tools might be useful when applied to individual climate behaviour.

Several key tools were identified from the 12-step approach and integrated into a fifty-seven-day qualitative study of nine participants and one participant researcher. A constructivist grounded theory leaning approach was adopted in an abductive analysis of the data which suggested that the tools were significantly helpful. The main findings demonstrated that the participants took deliberate and committed actions to change their climate behaviour, including attempts to uproot deep-seated habits that specialists consider notably difficult to change. Furthermore, they did not sidestep discussion of stressful climate scenarios, suggesting that the tools supported immersed climate engagement, and they continued with their chosen climate goals even when obstacles made this difficult. Finally, they reported co-benefits such as feelings of being pleased with their progress or of enjoying tasters of mindfulness.

The limitations of this study render the results, though promising, only applicable to the data and not generalisable to the wider population. However, they do provide valuable insights and point to the possible benefits of the application of addiction recovery tools to climate behaviour change. Follow-on studies of interest might be longitudinal, with a larger sample, perhaps using mixed methods to quantify any carbon reduction and capture any co-benefits.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Nov 21, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Keywords: Climate Behaviour Change Addiction Recovery
• Award Date: Jan 23, 2025