Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change poses a substantial threat to societal living conditions. Here, we argue that neuroscience can substantially contribute to the fight against climate change and provide a framework and a roadmap to organize and prioritize neuroscience research in this domain. We outline how neuroscience can be used to: (1) investigate the negative impact of climate change on the human brain; (2) identify ways to adapt; (3) understand the neural substrates of decisions with pro-environmental and harmful outcomes; and (4) create neuroscience-based insights into communication and intervention strategies that aim to promote climate action. The paper is also a call to action for neuroscientists to join broader scientific efforts to tackle the existential environmental threats Earth is currently facing.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to K.C.D. (grant no. P400PS_190997), a National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities grant (grant no. CNS-1952050) to M.G.B., and grants from the John Templeton Foundation and Jigsaw to J.J.V.B. We would like to thank B. Todorova for her assistance with editing and formatting the manuscript.
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Doell, K.C., Berman, M.G., Bratman, G.N. et al. Leveraging neuroscience for climate change research.
Nat. Clim. Chang. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01857-4
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Received: 27 February 2023
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Accepted: 20 September 2023
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Published: 13 November 2023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01857-4