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Walden makes the implication that in order for social change to exist, there must be pragmatic efforts to cause the intended change, whether by taking action as an individual or as group. Therefore, in the effort to create environment and living conditions that produce a society of happy, healthy people, actions must support and reinforce environmental health and enable people to adopt and maintain healthy relationship with their environment for the sake of happiness and well-being of others and the sustainability of the environment. As a conservation psychologist, I endeavor to promote positive social change through encouraging a healthy and sustainable relationship between human and nature.

Typically, comprehending and promoting the linkage between humans and the natural world greatly boost sustainable behaviors such as recycling and hence, reinforcing on environmental development and sustainability. Ideally, I chose the role of the conservation psychologist due to the fact that, people are interwoven and inseparable with the natural ecosystem. It is imperative to understand the way people experience, think about, and relate with nature in order to promote environmental sustainability and human well-being.

In my course of advocating for healthy environment and human well-being, I do not concentrate on creating small behavior changes rather, I desire for people to re-evaluate, rethink and prioritize their relationship with nature. I educate people to develop positive attitude towards environment. They need to affirm their identities and push for protection of nature and be the steward own valued places. People need to be courageous to correct their own values, systems and lifestyle through self-validation and system justification by advocating for conservation of environment, and encouraging people to participate actively, I help them understand the complex sources of environmental attitudes and behavior. Paradoxically, encouraging human well-being and ignoring on the threats to the natural environment, lead to depletion of resources, which later people complain of the adverse effects. In this regard, I encourage people to establish a connection with the environment to represent a positive image of oneself. For instance, tendering a beautiful.

At an individual level, a person has to develop profound connections with natural environment. Of course, an individual loves some natural entity like a tree, an animal or a lake. This implies that the human connection to nature is an integral part of human existence. When a person has strong connection to the environment, he/she will be able to champion for it preservation and will not be bound by structured public policies that propagate indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources (Clayton, and Myers, 2015; Roth and Sweatt, 2011). Indeed, social structure often determine how people interpret the natural environment, and thus, an individual’s ability to understand and recognize the interdependence of nature and social ties will drive him her/her to push for positive social policies and persuade institutions to conserve the environment. He/he recognizes that better interactions with the natural world is critical part of a society. Moreover, making conservation psychology part of an individual’s career life influence on environmental attitudes (Callahan et al, 2012). Ordinarily, some individuals may oppose environmental initiatives not because they not concern of the natural environment but because they do care about a certain group with which they are related to and the particular group has come about to object the initiative. Therefore, making social change part of the career ensures that an individual is environmentally conscious and plays a role in the workforce by supporting initiatives that encourage sustainability of the environment (Champagne and Mashoodh, 2009; TED Conferences, 2012). The person will be able to conduct research on what motivates individuals to change behavior and attitudes towards the environment and spread the message about social change for the sake of environmental sustainability. Thus, helping people rethink their positions in natural world as well as live more sustainable lives. Furthermore, people with positive attitude towards conservation of the environment will disseminate knowledge and experience that lead to influencing institutions and political systems to develop a relationship with nature within a social context to reinforce on happiness and well-being of others and the sustainability of the environment.

Based on Roth and Sweatt (2011), I draw a conclusion that the typical day-to-day life of an individual is often performed mindlessly according to social norms, habits and immediate situational influences. Therefore, it is imperative to concentrate on predictors that engage people actively and aligning it with the norms. For example showing energy conservation as normative. Uncovering the people’s reasons of adopting certain behaviors toward the environment and finding ways to encourage individual rethink their relationship with nature allow for positive interventions promoting a healthy human-nature relationship. As implied by Roth and Sweatt (2011).

Reference

Callahan, D., Wilson, E., Birdsall, I., Estabrook-Fishinghawk, B., Carson, G., Ford, S., Yob, I. (2012). Expanding our understanding of social change: A report from the definition task force of the HLC special emphasis project. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University.

Champagne, F. A., & Mashoodh, R. (2009). Genes in context: Gene-environment interplay and the origins of individual differences in behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(3), 127–131

Clayton, S. D., & Myers, G. (2015). Conservation psychology: Understanding and promoting human care for nature.

Roth, T. L., & Sweatt, J. D. (2011). Annual research review: Epigenetic mechanisms and environmental shaping of the brain during sensitive periods of development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(4), 398–408.

TED Conferences, LLC (Producer). (2012). Epigenetics makes you unique [Video file]. Retrieved from http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxOU-Courtney-Griffin-Epigene