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• Hochachka, Gail (2021). Finding shared meaning in the Anthropocene: engaging diverse perspectives on climate change. Sustainability Science. ISSN 1862-4065. doi: 10.1007/s11625-021-00965-4.
• Hochachka, Gail (2021). Integrating the four faces of climate change adaptation: Towards transformative change in Guatemalan coffee communities. World Development. ISSN 0305-750X. 140, p. 1–15. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105361.
• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Unearthing insights for climate change response in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Sustainability. ISSN 2059-4798. p. 1–10. doi: 10.1017/sus.2020.27. Full text in Research Archive
• Hochachka, Gail (2020). The scenic route: A developmental approach emphasizes the importance of human interiority in transformative approaches to climate change. . Integral Review. ISSN 1553-3069. 16(1), p. 187–214. Full text in Research Archive
• Hochachka, Gail (2019). On matryoshkas and meaning-making: Understanding the plasticity of climate change. Global Environmental Change. ISSN 0959-3780. 57, p. 1–19. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.05.001.
• Veland, Siri; Scoville-Simonds, Morgan; Gram-Hanssen, Irmelin; Schorre, Ann Kristin; El Khoury, Ann & Nordbø, Milda Jonusaite [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2018). Narrative matters for sustainability: the transformative role of storytelling in realizing 1.5°C futures. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. ISSN 1877-3435. 31, p. 41–47. doi: 10.1016/j.cosust.2017.12.005. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hochachka, Gail (2020). COVID Meets Climate: Salience and Luminosity. [Internet]. A New Republic of the Heart with Terry Patten. Show summary

  International development and climate change geographer Gail Hochachka examines similarities and differences between the COVID-19 pandemic and our more existential crisis of climate change. She and Terry discuss how the pandemic might be training institutions, leaders, scientists, and citizens to manage the climate crisis more effectively going forward.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Love in the Time of Corona. [Internet]. Integral Justice Warrior with Diane Hamilton. Show summary

  A discussion about the coronavirus pandemic and how to manage the tremendous fear, anxiety, and uncertainty that can arise from it. We also explore some of the hopeful opportunities and wisdoms that are being brought to the surface by our new set of global life conditions, as well as some of the possible paths toward anti-fragility that our society can take in the wake of this pandemic.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Intersubjectivity, Social Justice, and Climate. [Internet]. Integral Justice Warrior with Diane Hamilton. Show summary

  Usually when we talk about climate change, we do so in either 3rd-person terms (e.g. the math, the models, the environmental consequences, political and economic solutions, etc.) or 1st-person terms (our values, our personal responsibilities, our own capacity for resilience and anti-fragility, etc.) This time we wanted to do something a little bit different — to take a look at climate change through the lens of 2nd-person intersubjectivity — how we live together, how we grieve together, how we create meaning together, how we relate with each other in the midst of crisis, and the many other ways that we are all in this together.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Climate Change: From Alarmism to Anti-Fragility. [Internet]. Integral Justice Warrior with Diane Hamilton. Show summary

  What is the difference between being “resilient” and being “antifragile”? In this fascinating episode of Integral Justice Warrior, Diane and Corey are joined by Gail Hochachka and Rob McNamara to explore anti-fragile approaches to climate change. We are also joined by fellow integral enthusiast Deb Collins, who offers her own perspectives around the tragic wild fires that swept across the Australian continent. Antifragility is a concept made popular by author Nassim Nicolas Taleb in his book, Antifragile: Things that Gain From Disorder, in which Taleb posits three different characteristics any given system can have: Fragile systems tend to fall apart when hit with a system shock. Resilient systems (or “robust systems”) tend to stay the same when hit with a system shock. Antifragile systems actually change and evolve when hit with a system shock. As it becomes increasingly clear just how fragile our ecological, economic, and political systems have become, it is also becoming increasingly important that we begin to meet the many fragilities of our time with a genuinely anti-fragile response — after all, fragile reactions only produce more fragility. We are looking for solutions that are far more comfortable with volatility and uncertainty, and that can actually help systems and organizations evolve in the face of ongoing disruption. Solutions that do not deny the existence of fragility, but rather seek to increase their own anti-fragility by working to reduce fragility in the world, wherever we find it.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Climate Change Solutions: Adapt or Transform? [Internet]. Integral Justice Warrior with Diane Hamilton. Show summary

  In this episode of Integral Justice Warrior we are joined by special guests Gail Hochachka and Rob McNamara to explore some of the critical strategies to climate change — some of which emphasize a total top-down transformation of our political and economic systems, and others that emphasize a more incremental and adaptive approach. So what is the best choice here — adapt, or transform? To integral viewers who are very accustomed to “both/and” thinking, the answer probably won’t be too surprising.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Unearthing complexities: COVID-19 versus climate change. Show summary

  Alongside frustratingly slow action on climate change, in a matter of a few months at the outset of 2020, a dramatic, fast and widespread transformation of society occurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In comparison, while climate science converges as never before regarding global warming, public opinion on climate change is fractured and collective action is slow. What happened here, and why are the two responses so markedly different? Applying Integral Theory to understand the differences between COVID-19 and climate change, in this presentation I harvest lessons from the pandemic to arrive at a novel perspective on why responses to the two crises have been so distinct. Join me on a deep look into four psychological aspects that made the coronavirus accessible and actionable in a way that climate change is not: 1) the complexity of meaning-making required to galvanize behaviour change, 2) the psychological distance that complicates buy-in and ownership over actions, 3 the salience of the issue being seen as worthy of immediate attention. Through discussion, we will consider these in turn and discuss how they compound and synergize, providing some clarity on the effective drivers and the tenacious sticking-points for transformations to sustainability.

• Hochachka, Gail (2020). Integrating the four faces of adaptation: Toward transformative change in Guatemalan coffee communities. Show summary

  Despite the complexity of climate change, the dominant definition and practice of adaptation remains reactive, incremental, and focused primarily on biophysical and techno-managerial changes. Researchers suggest this is necessary but not sufficient, and increasingly note the importance of subjectivity, in both individuals and groups, in fostering comprehensive adaptation as well as for creating a more conscious, deliberate transformation. In this paper, I consider how to expand the scope and depth of ‘adaptation’ as it is currently defined and practiced, presenting an Integral analytical framework that weights more evenly the ‘interior’ forms of adaptation alongside a mainstream adaptation approach. Drawing on comparative case study research in Guatemalan coffee-growing communities, I explore how a more balanced integration of the subjective and objective adaptive capacities, in individuals and collectives, leads to four types of adaptation— personal, practical, critical-structural and co-generative. The research findings present: 1) two imaginaries for sustainable futures based on how the communities confronted entangled changes in their regions; 2) the interior adaptations (personal and co-generative) are less emphasized overall but can be integrated with dominant forms of adaptation practice; 3) critical-structural adaptations can particularly help disrupt status quo structural arrangements and to generate transformation, and 4) including a more comprehensive range of adaptations, and their associated adaptive capacities, may better position communities to engage in transformative change toward sustainability. My inquiry finds that the shift from adaptation to transformation, is not only possible but the latter might be closer at hand than expected.

• Hochachka, Gail & O'Fallon, Terri (2019). Climate Change and the use of the STAGES assessment for understanding worldviews.
• Hochachka, Gail (2019). On matryoshkas and meaning-making: Understanding the plasticity of climate change. Show summary

  Climate change is a complex issue and means different things to different people. Numerous scholars in history, philosophy, and psychology have explored these multiple meanings, referred to as the plasticity of climate change. Building on psychological research that seeks to explain why meanings differ, I present an analytical framework that draws on adult developmental psychology to explore how meaning is constructed, and how it may become increasingly more complex across a lifespan in a nested manner, much like Russian dolls (or matryoshkas). I then use the framework to analyze photo voice data from a case study about local perspectives on climate change in El Salvador. The main finding from this analysis is that a developmental approach can help to make sense of why there is such plasticity of meanings about climate change. Using photos and their interpretations to illustrate these findings, I examine how perspective-taking capacities arrive at different meanings about climate change, based on the object of awareness, complexity of thought, and scope of time. I then discuss implications of this preliminary work on how developmental psychology could help climate change scholar-practitioners to understand and align with different climate change meanings and support local actors to translate their own meanings about climate change into locally-owned actions.

• O'Brien, Karen; Hochachka, Gail & Gram-Hanssen, Irmelin (2019). Creating a Culture for Transformation. In Feola, Guiseppe; Geoghegen, Hilary & Arnall, Alex (Ed.), Climate and Culture : Multidisciplinary Perspectives on a Warming World. Cambridge University Press. ISSN 9781108422505. p. 266–290. doi: https%3A/doi.org/10.1017/9781108505284.
• Hochachka, Gail (2018). The orchestra plays while the Titanic sinks: Exploring coffee and climate change adaptation. Show summary

  Technical adaptation to climate change as been referred to as "necessary but insufficient” as to assume a technical solution is possible belies the full complexity of the issue. In this talk, I will take a deep look at this, with some preliminary research from the coffee growing regions of Guatemala as an example.

• Hochachka, Gail (2018). Beyond the floor boards and the glass ceiling: Working with stages of consciousness in a changing climate. Show summary

  Climate change is distributed massively across time and space, difficult to grasp cognitively, and almost impossible to directly experience. Meaning regarding climate change is made differently according to a diversity of perspectives. This presents a complex challenge to humanity--a challenge which continues to evade resolution despite the excellent scientific research, supportive intergovernmental processes, and growing citizen concern. Integral theory provides some important insights, particularly from its central tenant of developmental psychology, which is currently largely absent from the climate change discourse. This presentation will examine three reasons why developmental stages of integral theory are important in climate change: 1) to disclose why people make meaning of climate change so differently, which in turn could reduce conflict and assist in finding mutual understanding between worldviews; 2) to align better with the diverse spectrum of meaning-making and thus help in crafting pathways for adaptation from within each stage; and 3) to hold open the probability spaces for later developmental stages that are more commensurate with the full complexity of the issue. As such, not only does an understanding of stages help us to meet the challenge of climate change in a spectrum of ways across a developmental unfolding, but also staying in step with an issue like climate change could itself generate emergent ground for transformation.

• Hochachka, Gail (2017). Unexpected innovations for climate change adaptation. Show summary

  This talk examines the challenge that climate change adaptation presents to the coffee sector. Coffee is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Adaptation will require many tiny hammers designed to hit context-specific nails, and as such a global value chain presents a compelling opportunity to foster adaptation at each point. The talk focuses on how adaptation could be enabled along the whole global value chain, which is construed not as a linear one-way extraction of wealth from producing regions, but rather a dynamic circulation of wealth back into the communities and ecosystems of producing regions. This has the potential to reframe the relationships of global trade, not just based on transaction but on trust, as an ecosystem where each part supports the others.

• Hochachka, Gail (2017). The tetra-meshed Earth: Depth and innovation in climate change adaptation. Show summary

  In this talk, the contours of the challenge that is climate change is presented, namely how to grasp in meaning such a wicked problem and hyperobject: something not directly seen nor directly experienced, so radically nonlocal and involving of multiple disciplines, that exists on timeline we can’t easily conceive of, and regarding a future we can only approximate. Making sense of an issue this complex is slippery and plastic, and how we then engage it even more so. Drawing on field work in Guatemala in climate change adaptation, the talk presents some good news about the climate change field at present, describes certain gaps that persist, and then dives into the avant-garde of where we may venture in terms of climate change engagement in the future.

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