Personal action is important. Collective action that encourages systemic change can go even farther. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images Our species is in a race with climate change, and a lot of people want to know, “Can I really make a difference?” The question concerns what’s known as agency. Its meaning is complex, but in a nutshell it means being able to do what you set out to do and believing you can succeed. How well people exercise their agency will determine the severity of global warming – and its consequences . The evidence is clear that people are changing the climate dramatically . But human actions can also affect the climate for the better by reducing fossil fuel burning and carbon emissions. It’s not too late to avert the worst effects of climate change, but time is running out . Advertisement Despite abundant technical agency, humanity is alarmingly short of psychological agency: belief in one’s personal ability to help. A 10-country survey study in the Lancet, a British medical journal, found that more than half of young people ages 16-25 feel afraid, sad, anxious, angry, powerless and helpless about climate change. As professors, we bring complementary perspectives to the challenges of taking action on climate change. Tom Bateman studies psychology and leadership, and Michael Mann is a climate scientist and author of the 2022 book “ The New Climate War .” Believing ‘I can do this’ Human activities – particularly relying on coal, oil and natural gas for energy – have dramatically affected the climate , with dire consequences. As greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuel use accumulate in the atmosphere, they warm the planet. Rising global temperatures have fueled worsening heat waves, rising sea levels and more intense storms that become increasingly harder to adapt to. A […]