We can manage our climate challenges reasonably well only by evolving more rapidly and deliberately.

Cultural evolution via effective decision-making is key. We must override short-termism and uncertainties.

Elephants and other animals are evolving faster than scientists previously thought possible.

Surrendering to the relentless laws of physics. That’s what we—with far too few exceptions—are doing in response to our climate crisis. More constructively, certain other animals are quietly impressing scientists by evolving and adapting to climate change far faster than previously thought possible. If elephants, birds, and marine mammals can do it, we should be able to do it too.

When many of us were still in school, scientists understood evolution as an exceedingly slow genetic process, but they have recently learned otherwise. Behavioral, cultural, and even genetic evolution occur remarkably fast when the environment shifts rapidly. Consider one recent striking example in mammals: After 15 years of rampant ivory poaching in Mozambique, the percentage of female elephants born without tusks rose from 19% to 51%. In that short span, at least two tusk-related genes appeared.

We will manage our climate challenges effectively only by evolving more rapidly and deliberately. We can do this by taking fuller advantage of our abilities to anticipate what lies ahead, envision alternative possibilities, and proactively build the future we want and need

Adding psychology to climate science and engineering prowess would complete the three-legged stool that could support and sustain successful climate action.

Our default decision-making processes routinely show imperfections that we can and must overcome. We are not "wired to fail" in the face of climate change, as some believe. We do, however, succumb to a destructive cognitive bias: short-termism, or the tendency to be motivated by immediate costs and benefits more than by longer-term climate dangers. We build better futures when we think ahead and consider the ultimate consequences of our actions.

Short-termism is made worse by uncertainty about what the distant future holds. Uncertainty can prompt denial, breed discomfort, confusion, and helplessness, and provide handy excuses for doing little or nothing to protect the future. Harmful climate uncertainties include the false belief that climate scientists are divided in their views, the false belief that humans don’t have much effect on global heating, and the genuine difficulty of predicting the future precisely.

But we cannot let uncertainties stop us from taking aggressive climate action. This doesn’t need to be difficult; we override passive uncertainty when we get life-saving medical treatment, buy life insurance, and save as much as we can for retirement, even though we aren't 100% certain that we need to.

These key climate truths offer the certainties we need: 97% or more of active climate researchers agree on the fundamentals: Global warming is real and dangerous; human activity does drive the crisis; most people care; and there’s hope if we change how we act. We can prevail by concentrating on how we think and behave, which we can directly control.

We can, but often do not, control our thoughts and actions. Personal control and agency are universal psychological needs, yet things now feel more out of control than ever. We will regain control—and achieve climate agency—when we do what is necessary: reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the threats ahead. More immediately, pre-election political engagement can re-establish 2025’s progress, when renewables overtook coal in electricity generation and solar and wind growth met all new global power demand.

Crucially, we have more climate agency at our disposal than we usually realize. We vastly underuse the control available to us thanks to the predictability and knowledge that science and technology provide. We also have the technological and economic solutions we need.

The elephants’ amazing biological evolution aside, some animals benefit from rapid cultural evolution; for instance, changing communication patterns in birds and whales. Humankind’s transformative changes, as well, come from cultural evolution. When enough individuals and groups shift their behavior, new norms and cultures evolve. We can evolve faster, strategically and intentionally, using our abilities to think long-term, talk, and communicate virtually.

We need an ambitious climate mission, and speedy cultural evolution can achieve what we need. In recent decades, we’ve seen many rapid cultural changes, including changes in seat-belt and smoking habits, climate awareness, recycling, and shifts to renewable energy sources. The window, while closing, is still open enough that we can quickly alter trajectories and create the livable futures we can no longer take for granted.

Cultural evolution occurs when enough people talk openly and often about our climate futures—at work, with their families, in social gatherings, or with people of differing faiths, politics, and professions. The kicker is that changes occur only through talking differently and effectively. Arguments and even civil disagreements won’t accomplish what we need unless accompanied by honesty, cooperation, and a bias for action. This requires not denying the crisis itself, our collective responsibility, the many reasons for hope, or the power of human agency. We must prioritize our future over the past, decision-making challenges and policy solutions over tired old arguments, and intentional, speedy evolution over business-as-usual.

© Psychology Today