Can Gratitude Affect Climate Change?
Have you given much thought to the blessings each day holds? Do you thank God, the Universe, Allah, Mother/Father God, or any other entity when you wake each morning? Do you see each day as a blessing or a curse? Do you know that how you feel about your life is contagious? There used to be a banner hanging along the wall of an office I worked at years ago. It said, “Attitude Is A Little Thing That Makes A Big Difference”. It took several years before I fully realized what that meant.
Once I had children, I began to see how they mimicked my daily attitude. When I was lighthearted and easy going, so were they. If I was having a rough day and my temperament showed around them, there’s did too. But their attitudes were influenced by more than just me. Attitude, personal beliefs, the culture of the world around them, and the attitudes and beliefs of those they interacted with each day often appeared to make an even bigger difference. This included what they thought about themselves, how they treated those around them, and how they treated the planet they lived on.
Has anyone ever asked you, “If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?” Typically I would say I would leave things as they were because they made me the person I am today – and I like me. There is another way to look at that though.
Like most parents, we discover that hindsight is 20/20 by the time our children become adults and have kids of their own. If I could, I would like to go back to when my children were little and teach them about gratitude. I would do my best to raise them with an attitude of gratitude for each day. I know it is difficult to be grateful when it feels like life is falling apart around you. Believe me, I’ve been there. I know for a fact that finding at least one thing to be grateful for each day will make it easier to see the goodness and less likely to have you looking for the next shoe to drop. Once you find that ‘one thing’ it is much easier to identify more good things.
Did you know that an attitude of gratitude can actually help reverse climate change? We know that an attitude of gratitude improves a person’s mental well-being, increases happiness and satisfaction, and also strengthens human-to-human relationships on an individual basis and as a community. This works for climate change because an attitude of gratitude makes adults more conscious of their ‘perceived’ obligation to the younger generations. This includes an obligation to protect the planet they are growing up on.
The Earth was given to use to love and care for. Why have we allowed a few to create practices that are leading to its destruction? When you share your attitude of gratitude for all the gifts Mother Earth provides to us on a daily basis, those younger generations you are interacting with come to recognize those gifts and be more willing to practice random acts of kindness toward other people and the Earth herself. Gratitude for human-nature relationships breeds a desire to care for the outside world. This leads to increased support for environmental policies that will protect Our Mother as we move into the future.
Scientific studies have shown, using indirect effect tests and structural equation models, that an attitude of gratitude can make a quantifiable difference. They concluded that promoting an attitude of gratitude to younger generations would result in intergenerational environmental decision making and as a result will have a positive effect on climate change.
How about you pledge to demonstrate an attitude of gratitude from the time you rise in the morning? Give it a week or two and see how much better you feel about your life, your relationships with other people and nature, and your perspective on the amazing future you can be an active part of. Once you see how much better your life will be, the benefits to your family, community, and the Earth will just be added icing on the cake.
References
Manley, K. E., Hackenburg, D. M., Marquina, T., & Gould, R. K. (2022). Gratitude for Nature: Abundant Appreciation and Rare Reciprocity in Free Response Reflections. Ecopsychology.
Syropoulos, S., Watkins, H. M., Shariff, A. F., Hodges, S. D., & Markowitz, E. M. (2020). The role of gratitude in motivating intergenerational environmental stewardship. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 72, 101517.
