The Psychology of Resilience
Motivating and Sustaining Conservation in a Changing World
© WWF-US
Series overview
Biodiversity loss and climate change are reshaping ecosystems and communities alike. While conservation often focuses on ecological and technological solutions, evidence from around the world shows that lasting environmental progress depends just as much on the resilience of people and communities. Without the social capacity to cope with disruption, sustain motivation, and act collectively, conservation efforts struggle to endure. This seminar series, co-hosted with the American Psychological Association (APA), recognizes how social and ecological resilience are linked and explores the psychological mechanisms of social resilience. By integrating psychology and social science research with the lived experience from frontline communities and conservation practitioners, the series will illuminate how emotions, identity, culture, and community dynamics motivate, shape, and sometimes constrain conservation actions and outcomes. It will highlight strategies for fostering hope, managing eco-distress, and building collective capacity to adapt and thrive in a changing world. Participants will leave with actionable insights from psychological science that they can apply to strengthen social resilience, foster inclusive collaboration, and sustain conservation behaviors within their communities and professional contexts.
Seminar one
The Psychology of Distress
The emotional impact of environmental degradation and climate change on wellbeing
February 10, 2026 | 7:00 AM PT/10:00 AM ET
Speakers:
- Dr. Panu Pihkala, Adjunct Professor (Title of Docent) in Environmental Theology, University of Helsinki
- Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo, Provost and Vice-President Academic, Acadia University
Seminar two
Motivation and Meaning
How values, emotions, and attachment to place shape conservation behaviors
March 2, 2026 | 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET
Speakers:
- Dr. Linda Steg, Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Groningen
- Dr. Taciano Milfont, Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Waikato
- Hilary Zaranek
Seminar three
Adaptability
Collective coping strategies and community building to sustain conservation in a changing world
March 24, 2026 | 7:00 AM PT/10:00 AM ET
Speakers:
- Dr. Maria Ojala, Professor in Socio-Ecological Resilience, FRONT (Frontiers of Arctic and Global Resilience), University of Oulu, Finland
- Dr. John Jamir Benzon Aruta, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, De La Salle University
- Jennifer Uchendu, Founder, SustyVibes
Seminar four
Motivating Community Stewardship
Fostering locally led conservation by leveraging collective identity and norms
April 28, 2026 | 12:00 PM PT/3:00 PM ET
Speakers:
- Niki Harré, Head of the School of Psychology, University of Auckland
- Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Associate Professor of Earth System Science, Stanford University
- Kevin Chang, Executive Director, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo
Seminar five
Cultural Resilience
How cultural traditions, knowledge, and storytelling facilitate conservation across generations
May 19, 2026 | 9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET
Speakers:
- Dekila Chungyalpa, Director, Loka Initiative, University of Wisconsin – Madison
- Dr. Art Blume, 2025 Chair, Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), American Psychological Association
- María Inés Rivadeneira, Policy Lead - WWF Latin America and the Caribbean
Seminar six
Conservation at Scale
How to unleash networks and collective action to make conservation durable and scalable
June 23, 2026 | 7:00 AM PT/10:00 AM ET
Speakers:
- Dr. Elke Weber, Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
- Dr. Carlie Trott, Associate Professor, Community and Organizational Research for Action (CORA), University of Cincinnati
- Kerry Cesareo, Senior Vice President, Forests and Freshwater, WWF-US
- Jaime “Jim” Diaz-Granados, PhD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, American Psychological Association