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Untapped human potential When too many people think like those lyrics, problems don’t get solved. The only way societies will do enough to keep climate change in check is if they reject passivity, experiment with new strategies and tactics, and wisely strengthen their coping repertoire. People avoid doing much about climate change for many reasons: 1) They worry about time and cost; 2) they believe it’s difficult to change; 3) they have faulty assumptions, like feeling unable to help or that other people or new technologies will save the planet; 4) they have psychological biases, like caring more about the present than the future; and 5) they’re uncertain about the best ways to participate. Laying a foundation for higher-impact action begins with changing common mindsets. Most essential, and a tough task, is to behave far more proactively than most people have up until now. How to become more proactive Based on psychological and organizational behavior research, here are some starting points: 1) View yourself as someone who cares about the planet and the future. Your self-identity is how you view and describe yourself, and this generates corresponding behaviors. How you self-identify can help you think about your future, choose your preferred actions and provide a motivating standard or model to strive for. Take “caring” a step further by viewing yourself as a proactive person who thinks ahead and helps to make the future better than it would be without your contributions. 2) Assess, honestly, your efforts to reduce the harmful effects of climate change. In the same way people tend to overestimate their driving, athletic and leadership skills, they also tend to believe they are more environmentally friendly than most other people. This misleading bias can breed complacency and hinder action. If people assess themselves accurately compared to what they could and should be doing, most will see great untapped potential to make a difference. To unleash that potential, consider applying time management strategies found in business management that can free you from countless unpleasant and unproductive tasks and allow you to devote attention and time to impactful activities that take most advantage of your skills. 3) Assume responsibility for engaging more usefully in solving the problems of climate change. Feeling responsible motivates action. A key question is how you define responsibility. This is different from pinning all responsibility for fixing things on the guiltiest transgressors. In the blame game, fossil fuel companies have worked hard to shift responsibility for the world’s climate change predicament to consumers and not themselves. Remember this from George Bernard Shaw: “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” What the future holds really is up to us.