Barriers to Net Zero – learned helplessness

21 June 2023

Part 9 of our Barriers to Net Zero blog series – learned helplessness. The complexity of guidance and scientific language enacts a deep routed human response of learned helplessness creating inaction. If we understand that learned helplessness is a triggered response to complexity and the fear of getting things wrong born from early experiences with science at school, experts, observers, and standard bearers for science need to understand that they are part of the problem of inaction.

Download PDF: Barriers-To-Net-Zero-9-helplessness.pdf

See all news


Testimonial

Don't just take our word for it...

“ The professional service provided by your company was of very high quality and completed within agreed timelines. ”

Matthew Dudley, UNFCCC Secretariat

“ It has been a pleasure to work with Chris Dore and Richard Claxton from Aether: they did their job in a very professional and timely manner. The workshop was organized and carried out in a cooperative spirit; the information provided to the workshop participants was complete and clear. ”

Alina Novikova, UN/ECE Secretariat

“ Professional team and very collaborative communication. Effective result in terms of suggestions for improvement in the quality of the inventory and proposals on how to streamline specific topics. ”

Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

“ We have worked with Aether since 2019 to baseline, and subsequently update, our council and borough greenhouse gas inventories. It is a pleasure working with Aether’s professional, responsive, collaborative and helpful team. ”

Merton Council

“ From their winning bid to final delivery, Aether's work with North Norfolk District Council was positive and thorough. They brought a clear understanding of the challenges local authorities face regarding carbon emissions and quickly understood the unique nature of the Coastwise project. Communication was effective, and the outcomes combined a depth of research with real-world utility for the council's activities around carbon emissions and mitigation. ”

Alastair Zangs, North Norfolk District Council

“ Aether delivered training workshops and generated learning materials for our SSN members, providing technical content in a manageable and comprehendible format. We particularly benefitted from their extensive knowledge and ability to interpret the needs of our members into the training materials. ”

Jennifer Anderson, Sustainable Scotland Network

Contact us

Get in touch

Call us on +44 1865 259 200, complete the short form below, or go to the Contact page

Aether would like to keep in touch with you via email with news and updates. Please be assured that we'll treat your information with the utmost care and will not share it with other companies for marketing purposes. See our privacy policy.

Newsletter