Our Power, Our Planet: From Climate Anxiety to Collective Action this World Earth Day

Written by Dr Amy Brogan, Senior Clinical Psychologist and member of the PSI Special Interest Group in Addressing the Climate and Environmental Emergency. 

Today is World Earth Day, and the global call is simple but urgent: ‘Act now - make smart energy choices for your family and demand rapid renewable energy deployment from your governments, industries, and businesses.’ The 2025 Earth Day theme, ‘Our Power, Our Planet’, urges a tripling of renewable energy production by 2030. It is a bold target, and one that can’t be met without collective action.

At the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI), our Special Interest Group on Climate and the Environmental Emergency (SIG ACEE) believes that psychology has a powerful role to play in this movement. Psychology helps us understand what motivates people to act, how we build momentum, and how we sustain hope in the face of a crisis that can feel overwhelming.

Change is Possible

In Ireland, it is easy to lose sight of the huge societal shifts, driven by collective action or small grass roots movements, that we have experienced in a relatively short time:

• The marriage bar was lifted only 50 years ago.
• Contraception was first legalised around the same time.
• The marriage equality referendum was just 10 years ago.
• The Repeal the 8th movement succeeded only 7 years back.
• The plastic bag levy in 2002 and smoking ban in 2004 are examples of societal and environmental changes, not without controversy, that once felt radical but are now widely accepted.

In her book Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit describes how over time, these kinds of changes, at first considered outrageous or extreme, gradually become what we think we have always believed and. We forget how the transformation happened — and how many small actions made it possible.

Anxiety as a Driver of Collective Action

So, what drives people to give of their time and energy to participate in collection action? At the heart of many collective action movements is anxiety. In a climate context, that anxiety can be for oneself, for future generations, or for nature and the environment. In psychology, we often associate anxiety with our evolutionary ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ response. That fight instinct can be a motivator to participate in collective action. 

Grassroots climate movements in Ireland shows how this energy takes form:

• Climate Case Ireland, which led to the government needing to specify sectoral binding targets for emission reductions.
• Parents for Future Ireland and Mothers’ Rebellion Ireland, advocating for children’s futures.
• Tidy Towns groups, continuously supporting biodiversity and improving residential environments.
• Professional groups like the PSI and Irish Doctors for the Environment, seeking to advocate for environmental concerns linked to their profession.

Connection Matters

Collective action doesn’t just emerge from anxiety, another key factor is social connection. Humans are fundamentally social beings. Collective belonging and joining with other like-minded individuals is essential to overcoming many of the challenges of engaging with climate change. Talking about climate change helps break what psychologists call the “spiral of silence” - the idea that people stay quiet because they wrongly believe others care less.

In fact, the most recent EPA report showed that a staggering 95% of people in Ireland are concerned about the climate crisis, but we are not successfully turning this concern into positive action. Making climate part of everyday conversations can help us feel less alone, less stuck, and more motivated to act.

Breaking Through ‘Stuckness’

Climate psychology also helps us understand why action can feel hard. People can get caught in traps like:

• Disavowal, or turning a blind eye – “It’s true, but that doesn’t matter because…”
• Doomism – “We can’t do anything about it…”
• Numbness – “Just another ‘record-breaking’ year.”

Being with others can help us overcome these psychological barriers by helping us emotionally process the enormity of climate change allowing us to stay engaged with this hugely emotive topic. While staying engaged doesn’t necessarily mean that we feel fine or no longer worry about climate, it does allow us to grieve current and future losses, and maintain hope for the future. 

What Can You Do This World Earth Day?

Even actions that feel small are significant - especially when they are visible. Visibility matters for collective action. Research shows that the effect of your peers influences behaviour more than financial incentives or education.

So:

• If you can, go solar – did you know the biggest predictor of getting solar panels is your neighbour having them?
• Request a green energy plan.
• Change your light bulbs to LEDs.
• Use appliances during off-peak hours to use surplus wind energy
• Talk to your TD about about the importance of accelerating offshore wind energy
• Most importantly, talk about climate change – with your friends, family, book club, football team, or WhatsApp group.

Creating a Social Tipping Point

We don’t need to convince everyone, but we do need climate to be an essential topic for 1 in 4 people to create a “social tipping point”. Researchers suggest that at this point, social conventions start to change, leading to mass engagement and potential momentum away from fossil fuel dependence.

This Earth Day, let’s move away from “us and them” narratives where climate concerns are only located with those who are “green”, to climate being a concern for all. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’. This is also essential from a climate justice perspective, to support those most at risk of climate breakdown, or for those whom the financial and environmental barriers are significant.

By acting together, we promote a just transition for all. 

Read the PSI Position Statement on the Climate and Environmental Emergency.