Contributions, missed opportunities, and future directions: A critical reflection on global climate change and environmental sustainability in AJCP over five decades

• Published in: American journal of community psychology 2023-12, Vol.72 (3-4), p.288-301
• Main Authors: Dittmer, Livia D., Reimer‐Watts, Kai, Dobai, Jennifer, Riemer, Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate Change; Community involvement; Community Participation; Community power; Community psychology; Environmental aspects; environmental sustainability; Forecasting; Future; global climate change; Humans; Marginality; Minority groups; Social response; Sustainable development; United States; Well being; Worldview
• ISSN: 0091-0562; 1573-2770
• DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12720

In this contribution to the 50th Anniversary Special Issue, the authors consider how global climate change and environmental sustainability have been addressed in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) over the last five decades. As we are increasingly exceeding critical planetary boundaries (global climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, etc.) with disastrous impacts on human well‐being—especially for peoples already marginalized—it is timely to consider the treatment of environmental issues in the history of the AJCP and in community psychology more broadly. This review of relevant articles is clustered into three topics derived from our critical understanding of the articles themselves: (a) public participation and power; (b) community‐level responses to environmental change, including its disproportionate impacts on marginalized groups; and (c) frameworks and worldviews that integrate the natural world as necessary context for research and action. The commentary on the featured articles is framed in terms of their key contributions, missed opportunities up to this point, and future directions for the field. While looking back at the past 50 years, the authors also have an eye to the years ahead and what work can be done to mitigate the harms of climate change, adapt to the emerging new environmental reality, and promote just and inclusive sustainabilities worldwide. Highlights Describes key articles on the topic in the 50‐year history of American Journal of Community Psychology. Identifies key contributions, missed opportunities, and future directions on the theme in community psychology (CP). Frames the discussion with considerations of context, equity, and power. Calls CP researchers and partners to link social and environmental sustainability in study and action.