Journal articles on the topic 'Antarctic psychology'

AbstractAlthough existing research regarding the experience of Antarctic employment has primarily focused on the absence period (i.e. the period of time in which the expeditioner physically works in Antarctica), it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the majority of expeditioners experience positive outcomes associated with their time ‘on the ice’ despite transient (and frequently subclinical) physical, psychological, and social difficulties. Research strategies directed towards the individual experience of the expeditioner have not been able to fully account for the processes underpinning the adjustment processes that have facilitated seemingly resilient and growth outcomes. Similarly, insufficient research attention has been given to the separate phases of Antarctic employment, nor the potential interdependence between them, which may also provide further insight into these processes. To address these issues it has been argued that an approach incorporating individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors throughout the Antarctic employment experience, from pre-departure through absence, reunion, and reintegration, be adopted.

AbstractAntarctica and Australia share a geographical marginality, a commonality that has produced and continues to reinforce historical and political ties between the two continents. Given this close relationship, surprisingly few fulllength novels set in or concerned with the Antarctic have been produced by Australian authors. Until 1990, two latenineteenth- century Utopias, and two novels by Thomas Keneally, were (to our knowledge) the sole representatives of this category. The last decade, however, has seen an upsurge of interest in Antarctica, and a corresponding increase in fictional response. Keneally's novels are ‘literary,’ but these more recent novels cover the gamut of popular genres: science fiction, action-thriller, and romance. Furthermore, they indicate a change in the perception of Antarctica and its place within international relations. Whereas Keneally is primarily concerned with the psychology of the explorer from the ‘Heroic Age,’ these younger Australian writers are interested in contemporary political, social, and environmental issues surrounding the continent. Literary critics have hitherto said little about textual representations of Antarctica; this paper opens a space for analysis of ‘Antarctic fiction,’ and explores the changing nature of Australian-Antarctic relations as represented by Australian writers.

Over the past decade, the EU has developed broader interests in the polar regions – ranging from fisheries, research and environmental protection to foreign affairs. Although this applies mainly to the Arctic region, its geographical opposite – the Antarctic – has not fallen into oblivion. This article explores the EU’s way ‘south’, examining its links to the region as well as the key drivers of this growing – albeit still limited – Antarctic engagement. International actions taken to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) also indicate supranational tendencies to engage actively in and with Antarctic affairs. In particular, this concerns the European Commission and broader debates on sustainable development and global environmental leadership. European Union, Antarctic, Marine Protected Areas, Fisheries, Antarctic Treaty System

Human psychology and physiology are significantly altered by isolation and confinement. In light of planned exploration class interplanetary missions, the related adverse effects on the human body need to be explored and defined as they have a large impact on a mission's success. Terrestrial space analogs offer an excellent controlled environment to study some of these stressors during a space mission in isolation without the complex environment of the International Space Station. Participants subjected to these space analog conditions can encounter typical symptoms ranging from neurocognitive changes, fatigue, misaligned circadian rhythm, sleep disorders, altered stress hormone levels, and immune modulatory changes. This review focuses on both the psychological and the physiological responses observed in participants of long-duration spaceflight analog studies, such as Mars500 or Antarctic winter-over. They provide important insight into similarities and differences encountered in each simulated setting. The identification of adverse effects from confinement allows not only the crew to better prepare for but also to design feasible countermeasures that will help support space travelers during exploration class missions in the future.

Antarctica is a natural laboratory for scientists and an adventure destination for tourists. It has challenging yet beautiful landscape. Due to extreme environment and isolation, wintering over in Antarctica is still challenging, even with advancement in accommodations. Polar scientists have focused on the aspects of Antarctica according to their specialty. For example, psychologists have highlighted polar psychology; likewise, physiologists and other allied human biologists have pointed-out to biochemistry, immunology, and stress biology. A researcher new to Antarctica gets confused to encounter diverse literature of different domains. These reasons require a review on the scientific aspects of wintering-over in Antarctica to enlighten first time readers. Journal articles from PubMed and Google Scholar (up to 2021) were searched with the search terms “Antarctica,” in combination with the words “human physiology” and “human psychology”. Vivid direct quotes of early explorers of the heroic age of polar expeditions are described and 53 articles were finally selected. The human psychophysiology points of discussion in this narrative review are geomagnetism, circadian rhythm, immunity, hypoxia, bone metabolic changes, acute mountain sickness, and stress biology concerning extended stay in Antarctica.

This article recounts the experiences of an all-male group of 59 winterers (explorers) who spent almost a year in Antarctica. As well as a group experience, it was also a deep personal experience. For the author; this stay in another world seeming far beyond that of humans was and remains a quasi-spiritual experience, of immersing oneself in the original, untouched splendour of nature, producing a kind of oceanic feeling at the most archaic level of the coself.

Main sources for this bibliography were the 2001 editions of various databases such as the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS), Chemical Abstracts and Medline Express. In addition, issues of a number of Australian journals published in 2001 were scanned, and readers of the bibliography sent information about relevant items to the compiler. Most items included were published in 2001, but a number of earlier publications were also found which it was thought should be included. The scope of the bibliography is limited to material on the history of the natural sciences (mathematics, physical sciences, earth sciences and biological sciences), some of the applied sciences (including medical and health sciences, agriculture, manufacturing and engineering), and human sciences (psychology, anthropology and sociology). Biographical material on practitioners in these sciences is also of interest. The compiler would like to thank those people who sent items or information about items published during 2001 for inclusion in the bibliography. It would again be appreciated if he could be notified about other items dealing with the history of science in Australasia, the South West Pacific area and Antarctica published during 2001, but have been omitted. Readers are invited to alert the compiler to the publication of books, journal articles, conference papers, reports, Masters and PhD theses and reviews on the subject published during 2002 for inclusion in future bibliographies. Pertinent information should be sent to the compiler, C/- Deakin University Library, Geelong, Victoria 3217, Australia or by e-mail to laurie.carlson@austehc.unimelb.edu.au.

This article serves as the conclusion of the special issue entitled “Relationships in the time of COVID-19: Examining the effects of the global pandemic on personal relationships.” The special issue includes 29 research articles with authors and samples from 28 countries spanning all continents except Antarctica. Romantic relationships between two heterosexual partners were studied most often in the special issue articles, but studies also focused on family relationships, friendships, and relationships between strangers. This article provides a summary of the special issue and its three broad themes: (1) stress, turbulence, conflict, and coping; (2) loneliness, isolation, and mediated communication; and (3) reflecting and reframing in relationships. The article concludes with the special issue editors’ reflections on relationship science and the pandemic.

This bibliography, in geographic terms, covers principally Australia, but also New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, and Antarctica. It includes material on the history of the natural sciences (mathematics, physical sciences, earth sciences and biological sciences), some of the applied sciences (including medical and health sciences, agriculture, manufacturing and engineering), and human sciences (psychology, anthropology and sociology). Biographical material on practitioners in these sciences is also of interest. The sources used in compiling this bibliography include those that have proved useful in the past in finding relevant citations. The library catalogues of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the National Library of Australia and the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga O Aotearoa were particularly useful sources of information. Journals that have yielded articles for previous bibliographies were checked, as were some titles that have not previously been scanned. Hence a number of citations are included that were published earlier than 2008. Assistance has been received from a number of people who sent items or information about items published in 2008 for inclusion in the bibliography. In particular, Professor Rod Home has been most helpful in forwarding relevant citations. Staff of the eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, especially Helen Morgan, were of great assistance in the preparation of this bibliography. Readers may have access to information about relevant books, journal articles, conference papers, reports, Master's and PhD theses and reviews published in 2009. They are encouraged to send such information to the compiler at the above email address for inclusion in future bibliographies.

Organizations addressing gender-based violence (GBV) increasingly include men as partners in prevention efforts. However, little is known about men who get involved in those efforts and what specific actions they take. We present analyses of data from an international sample of men involved in gender-based prevention work that aimed to describe (a) the nature of participants’ involvement in prevention efforts, in both formal programming and in their daily lives; (b) characteristics of engaged men, including gender and bystander-related attitudes and beliefs, and social networks; and (c) factors that sustain men’s involvement in GBV movements over time. Comparisons across global regions for these variables were also conducted. A total of 379 male-identified participants above 18 who had attended a GBV event in the past year completed an online survey (available in English, French, and Spanish). Respondents represented all continents except Antarctica, although North America was over-represented in the sample. Overall, respondents scored well above North American norms for men on support for gender equality and recognition of male privilege, and this was true across all geographic regions. Men in all regions reported moderate support from friends and somewhat less support from male relatives for their involvement in GBV prevention. Respondents in all regions reported high levels of active bystander and violence-preventive behavior. The most commonly reported motivations for involvement in GBV prevention included concern for related social justice issues, exposure to the issue of violence through work, hearing a moving story, or disclosures about domestic or sexual violence. Results were mainly similar across regions, but when regional differences emerge, they tended to be contrasts between the global north and global south, highlighting the importance of cross-fertilization across regions and a willingness to adapt critical learnings in new geographic settings.

Se analizó la relación entre el uso problemático de internet y la calidad de sueño. La metodología fue no experimental, transversal y correlacional. La muestra fue no probabilística por conveniencia. Participaron 118 estudiantes de pregrado y postgrado de universidades e institutos superiores de la ciudad de Quito en Ecuador. Los instrumentos fueron el Cuestionario de Experiencias Relacionadas con Internet (CERI) y el Cuestionario de Pittsburg de Calidad de Sueño (PSQI). Se evaluó la asociación entre las variables mediante el coeficiente de correlación de Pearson y un valor p < 0,05 durante la emergencia sanitaria por COVID-19. Los resultados muestran que los participantes en 51 % tienen problemas ocasionales con el uso de internet y el 47 % tienen problemas de sueño que además merecen atención y tratamiento médico. La asociación entre la variable independiente y la variable dependiente fue r = 0,195 y p = 0,034. En conclusión, existe una relación significativa moderada entre el uso problemático de internet y la calidad de sueño. Palabras Clave: Calidad de sueño, estudiantes universitarios, salud mental, uso de internet. [1]D. J. Kuss y O. López-Fernández, “Internet addiction and problematic Internet use: A systematic review of clinical research,” World journal of psychiatry vol. 6, n° 1, pp. 143-76, Marzo 2016. [2]M. Vázquez-Chacón, S. Cabrejos-Llontop, Y. Yrigoin-Pérez, R. Robles-Alfaro y C. Toro-Huamanchumo, “Adicción a internet y calidad de sueño en estudiantes de medicina de una Universidad peruana, 2016,” Revista Habanera de Ciencias Médicas, vol. 18, n° 5, pp. 817-830, Octubre 2019. [3]P. Carrillo-Mora, K. Barajas-Martínez, I. Sánchez-Vázquez y M. Rangel-Caballero, “Trastornos del sueño: ¿qué son y cuáles son sus consecuencias?,” Revista de la Facultad de Medicina de la UNAM, vol. 61, n° 1, pp. 6-20, Enero-febrero 2018. [4]S. J. Kim, J. W. Kim, Y. S. Cho, K. J. Chung, H. Yoon y K. H. Kim, “Influence of Circadian Disruption Associated With Artificial Light at Night on Micturition Patterns in Shift Workers,” International neurourology journal, vol. 23, n° 4, pp. 258-264, Diciembre 2019. [5]J. Arendt y B. Middleton, “Human seasonal and circadian studies in Antarctica (Halley, 75°S),” General and Comparative Endocrinology, vol. 258, n° 1, pp. 250-258, Marzo 2018. [6]P. Botero, P. Camargo, Y. Riaño y N. Velásquez, “Calidad del sueño en adultos según el grado de exposición a campos electromagnéticos en Bogotá y Duitama en 2017,” Tesis de pregrado, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, Bogotá, COL., 2017. [7]H. Y. Wong, H. Y. Mo, M. N. Potenza, M. Chan, W. M. Lau, T. K. Chui, A. H. Pakpour y C. Y. Lin, “Relationships between Severity of Internet Gaming Disorder, Severity of Problematic Social Media Use, Sleep Quality and Psychological Distress,” International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 17, n° 6, 1879, Marzo 2020. [8]V. Parra, J. Vargas, B. Zamorano, F. Peña, Y. Velázquez, L. Ruiz y O. Monreal, “Adicción y factores determinantes en el uso problemático del Internet, en una muestra de jóvenes universitarios,” Edutec-e, n° 56, p. a337, Junio 2016. [9]M. Laguna, “Estudio sobre el uso de internet y sus aplicaciones en el alumnado de último año de carrera de la Universidad de Alicante,” Tesis Doctoral, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, ESP., 2013. [10]A. Rial, P. Gómez, M. Isorna, M. Araujo y J. Varela, “EUPI-a: Escala de Uso Problemático de Internet en adolescentes. Desarrollo y validación psicométrica,” Adicciones, vol. 27, n° 1, pp. 47-63, 2015. [11]T. Fernández-Villa, J. Alguacil, A. Almaraz, J. Cancela, M. Delgado-Rodríguez, M. García-Martín, E. Jiménez-Mejías, J. Llorca, A. Molina, R. Ortíz, L. Félix y V. Martín, “Uso problemático de internet en estudiantes universitarios: factores asociados y diferencias de género,” Adicciones, vol. 27, n° 4, pp. 265-275, 2015. [12]S. Cañón, J. Castaño, D. Hoyos, J. Jaramillo, D. Leal, R. Rincón, E. Sánchez y L. Urueña, “Uso problemático de internet en estudiantes universitarios: factores asociados y diferencias de género,” Adicciones, vol. 27, n° 4, pp. 265-275, Julio-diciembre 2016. [13]Z. Granados-Carrasco, A. Bartra-Aguinaga, D. Bendezú-Barnuevo, J. Huamanchumo-Merino, E. Hurtado-Noblecilla, J. Jiménez-Flores, F. León-Jiménez y D. Chang-Dávila, “Calidad del sueño en una facultad de medicina de Lambayeque,” Anales de la Facultad de Medicina, vol. 74, n°4, pp. 311-314, Octubre-Diciembre 2013. [14]Q. Wang, K. Mati y Y. Cai, “The link between problematic internet use, problematic gaming, and psychological distress: does sleep quality matter?,” BMC psychiatry, vol. 21, n° 1, 103, Febrero 2021. [15]M. Bautista y I. Taipe, “Calidad de sueño y factores asociados en internos rotativos de la carrera de Medicina de la Universidad de Cuenca 2019,” Tesis de pregrado Médico Cirujano, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca, ECU., 2019. [16]El Universo. (2020, Junio 26). El tráfico de internet en los hogares creció hasta 63 % en medio de la pandemia del COVID-19. Diario El Universo [Internet]. Disponible en: https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2020/06/23/nota/7881924/internet-fijo-servicio-operadoras-demanda-cuarentena-covid-19. [17]B. Fernandes, U. Nanda, R. Tan-Mansukhani, A. Vallejo y C. Essau, “The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on internet use and escapism in adolescents,” Revista de Psicología Clínica con Niños y Adolescentes, vol. 7, n° 3, pp. 59-65, Septiembre 2020. [18]J. A. Casas, R. Ruiz-Olivares y R. Ortega-Ruiz, “Validation of the Internet and Social Networking Experiences Questionnaire in Spanish adolescents,” International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, vol. 13, n° 1, pp. 40-48, Enero 2013. [19]Y. Tan, Y. Chen, Y. Lu y L. Li, “Exploring Associations between Problematic Internet Use, Depressive Symptoms and Sleep Disturbance among Southern Chinese Adolescents,”International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 13, n° 3, 313, Marzo 2016. [20]A. Barquero y F. Calderón, “Influencia de las nuevas tecnologías en el desarrollo adolescente y posibles desajustes,” Revista Cúpula, vol. 30, n° 2, pp. 11-25, 2016. [21]J. P. C. Chang y C. C. Hung. Uso problemático de internet. Libro electrónico de IACAPAP de Salud Mental en Niños y Adolescentes. Geneva: Asociación Internacional de Psiquiatría y Profesiones Aliadas de Niños y Adolescentes. [Internet]. 2016. Disponible en: https://iacapap.org/content/uploads/H.6-Uso-problem%C3%A1tico-de-Internet-SPANISH-2017.pdf [22]S. García y G. Zurita, “Estudio estadístico de internet y su incidencia en la educación universitaria fiscal de la provincia del Guayas,” Tesis de pregrado Ingeniera en Estadística Informática, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Guayaquil, ECU., 2017. [23]J. Redondo, K. Rangel, M. Luzardo y C. Inglés, “Experiencias relacionadas con el uso de internet y celular en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios colombianos,” Revista Virtual Universidad Católica del Norte, vol. 49, pp. 7-22, Septiembre-diciembre 2016. [24]S. Cruces, R. Guil, N. Sánchez y J. Pereira, “Consumo de nuevas tecnologías y factores de personalidad en estudiantes universitarios,” Commons, vol. 5, n° 2, pp. 203-228, Diciembre 2016. [25]X. Carbonell, A. Chamarro, M. Griffiths, U. Oberst, R. Cladellas y A. Talam, “Problematic Internet and cell phone use in Spanish teenagers and young students,” Anales de psicología, vol. 8, n° 3, pp. 789-796, Octubre 2012. [26]S. Iñiguez-Jiménez, S. Cruz-Pierard y S. Vaca-Córdova, “Uso problemático de tecnologías de la información y comunicación, consumo de sustancias y su impacto en la salud mental de estudiantes de bachillerato,” PAIDEIA XXI, vol. 10, n° 2, pp. 471-489, Julio-diciembre 2020. [27]M. Machado-Duque, J. Echeverri y J. Machado-Alba,"Somnolencia diurna excesiva, mala calidad del sueño y bajo rendimiento académico en estudiantes de Medicina,” Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, vol. 44, n° 3, pp. 137-142, Julio-septiembre 2015. [28]S. de la Portilla, C. Dussán, D. Montoya, J. Taborda y L. Nieto, “Calidad de sueño y somnolencia diurna excesiva en estudiantes universitarios de diferentes dominios,” Hacia Promoc. Salud, vol. 24, n° 1, pp. 84-96, Enero – junio 2019. [29]F. Wang y É. Bíró, “Determinants of sleep quality in college students: A literature review,” Explore, vol. 17, n° 2, pp. 170-177, Marzo-abril 2021. [30]M. Puerto, D. Rivero, L. Sansores, L. Gamboa y L. Sarabia, “Somnolencia, hábitos de sueño y uso de redes sociales en estudiantes universitarios,” Enseñanza e Investigación en Psicología, vol. 20, n° 2, pp. 189-195, Mayo-agosto 2015. [31]Ministerio de Sanidad. “COVID-19, consumo de sustancias psicoactivas y adicción”. Observatorio Español de las Drogas y las Adicciones, España. Informe Impacto COVID. [Internet]. Julio 2020. Disponible en: https://pnsd.sanidad.gob.es/noticiasEventos/actualidad/2020_Coronavirus/pdf/20200715_Informe_IMPACTO_COVID-19_OEDA_final.pdf

About half way through Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s film Home (2009) the narrator describes the fall of the Rapa Nui, the indigenous people of the Easter Islands. The narrator posits that the Rapa Nui culture collapsed due to extensive environmental degradation brought about by large-scale deforestation. The Rapa Nui cut down their massive native forests to clear spaces for agriculture, to heat their dwellings, to build canoes and, most importantly, to move their enormous rock sculptures—the Moai. The disappearance of their forests led to island-wide soil erosion and the gradual disappearance of arable land. Caught in the vice of overpopulation but with rapidly dwindling basic resources and no trees to build canoes, they were trapped on the island and watched helplessly as their society fell into disarray. The sequence ends with the narrator’s biting remark: “The real mystery of the Easter Islands is not how its strange statues got there, we know now; it's why the Rapa Nui didn't react in time.” In their unrelenting desire for development, the Rapa Nui appear to have overlooked the role the environment plays in maintaining a society. The island’s Moai accompanying the sequence appear as memento mori, a lesson in the mortality of human cultures brought about by their own misguided and short-sighted practices. Arthus-Bertrand’s Home, a film composed almost entirely of aerial photographs, bears witness to present-day environmental degradation and climate change, constructing society as a fragile structure built upon and sustained by the environment. Home is a call to recognise how contemporary practices of post-industrial societies have come to shape the environment and how they may impact the habitability of Earth in the near future. Through reflexivity and a ritualised structure the text invites spectators to look at themselves in a new light and remake their self-image in the wake of global environmental risk by embracing new, alternative core practices based on balance and interconnectedness. Arthus-Bertrand frames climate change not as a burden, but as a moment of profound realisation of the potential for change and humans ability to create a desirable future through hope and our innate capacity for renewal. This article examines how Arthus-Bertrand’s ritualised construction of climate change aims to remake viewers’ perception of present-day environmental degradation and investigates Home’s place in contemporary climate change communication discourse. Climate change, in its capacity to affect us globally, is considered a world risk. The most recent peer-reviewed Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases has increased markedly since human industrialisation in the 18th century. Moreover, human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and agricultural practices, are “very likely” responsible for the resulting increase in temperature rise (IPPC 37). The increased global temperatures and the subsequent changing weather patterns have a direct and profound impact on the physical and biological systems of our planet, including shrinking glaciers, melting permafrost, coastal erosion, and changes in species distribution and reproduction patterns (Rosenzweig et al. 353). Studies of global security assert that these physiological changes are expected to increase the likelihood of humanitarian disasters, food and water supply shortages, and competition for resources thus resulting in a destabilisation of global safety (Boston et al. 1–2). Human behaviour and dominant practices of modernity are now on a path to materially impact the future habitability of our home, Earth. In contemporary post-industrial societies, however, climate change remains an elusive, intangible threat. Here, the Arctic-bound species forced to adapt to milder climates or the inhabitants of low-lying Pacific islands seeking refuge in mainland cities are removed from the everyday experience of the controlled and regulated environments of homes, offices, and shopping malls. Diverse research into the mediated and mediatised nature of the environment suggests that rather than from first-hand experiences and observations, the majority of our knowledge concerning the environment now comes from its representation in the mass media (Hamilton 4; Stamm et al. 220; Cox 2). Consequently the threat of climate change is communicated and constructed through the news media, entertainment and lifestyle programming, and various documentaries and fiction films. It is therefore the construction (the representation of the risk in various discourses) that shapes people’s perception and experience of the phenomenon, and ultimately influences behaviour and instigates social response (Beck 213). By drawing on and negotiating society’s dominant discourses, environmental mediation defines spectators’ perceptions of the human-nature relationship and subsequently their roles and responsibilities in the face of environmental risks. Maxwell Boykoff asserts that contemporary modern society’s mediatised representations of environmental degradation and climate change depict the phenomena as external to society’s primary social and economic concerns (449). Julia Corbett argues that this is partly because environmental protection and sustainable behaviour are often at odds with the dominant social paradigms of consumerism, economic growth, and materialism (175). Similarly, Rowan Howard-Williams suggests that most media texts, especially news, do not emphasise the link between social practices, such as consumerist behaviour, and their environmental consequences because they contradict dominant social paradigms (41). The demands contemporary post-industrial societies make on the environment to sustain economic growth, consumer culture, and citizens’ comfortable lives in air-conditioned homes and offices are often left unarticulated. While the media coverage of environmental risks may indeed have contributed to “critical misperceptions, misleading debates, and divergent understandings” (Boykoff 450) climate change possesses innate characteristics that amplify its perception in present-day post-industrial societies as a distant and impersonal threat. Climate change is characterised by temporal and spatial de-localisation. The gradual increase in global temperature and its physical and biological consequences are much less prominent than seasonal changes and hence difficult to observe on human time-scales. Moreover, while research points to the increased probability of extreme climatic events such as droughts, wild fires, and changes in weather patterns (IPCC 48), they take place over a wide range of geographical locations and no single event can be ultimately said to be the result of climate change (Maibach and Roser-Renouf 145). In addition to these observational obstacles, political partisanship, vested interests in the current status quo, and general resistance to profound change all play a part in keeping us one step removed from the phenomenon of climate change. The distant and impersonal nature of climate change coupled with the “uncertainty over consequences, diverse and multiple engaged interests, conflicting knowledge claims, and high stakes” (Lorenzoni et al. 65) often result in repression, rejection, and denial, removing the individual’s responsibility to act. Research suggests that, due to its unique observational obstacles in contemporary post-industrial societies, climate change is considered a psychologically distant event (Pawlik 559), one that is not personally salient due to the “perceived distance and remoteness [...] from one’s everyday experience” (O’Neill and Nicholson-Cole 370). In an examination of the barriers to behaviour change in the face of psychologically distant events, Robert Gifford argues that changing individuals’ perceptions of the issue-domain is one of the challenges of countering environmental inertia—the lack of initiative for environmentally sustainable social action (5). To challenge the status quo a radically different construction of the environment and the human-nature relationship is required to transform our perception of global environmental risks and ultimately result in environmentally consequential social action. Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Home is a ritualised construction of contemporary environmental degradation and climate change which takes spectators on a rite of passage to a newfound understanding of the human-nature relationship. Transformation through re-imagining individuals’ roles, responsibilities, and practices is an intrinsic quality of rituals. A ritual charts a subjects path from one state of consciousness to the next, resulting in a meaningful change of attitudes (Deflem 8). Through a lifelong study of African rituals British cultural ethnographer Victor Turner refined his concept of rituals in a modern social context. Turner observed that rituals conform to a three-phased processural form (The Ritual Process 13–14). First, in the separation stage, the subjects are selected and removed from their fixed position in the social structure. Second, they enter an in-between and ambiguous liminal stage, characterised by a “partial or complete separation of the subject from everyday existence” (Deflem 8). Finally, imbued with a new perspective of the outside world borne out of the experience of reflexivity, liminality, and a cathartic cleansing, subjects are reintegrated into the social reality in a new, stable state. The three distinct stages make the ritual an emotionally charged, highly personal experience that “demarcates the passage from one phase to another in the individual’s life-cycle” (Turner, “Symbols” 488) and actively shapes human attitudes and behaviour. Adhering to the three-staged processural form of the ritual, Arthus-Bertrand guides spectators towards a newfound understanding of their roles and responsibilities in creating a desirable future. In the first stage—the separation—aerial photography of Home alienates viewers from their anthropocentric perspectives of the outside world. This establishes Earth as a body, and unearths spectators’ guilt and shame in relation to contemporary world risks. Aerial photography strips landscapes of their conventional qualities of horizon, scale, and human reference. As fine art photographer Emmet Gowin observes, “when one really sees an awesome, vast place, our sense of wholeness is reorganised [...] and the body seems always to diminish” (qtd. in Reynolds 4). Confronted with a seemingly infinite sublime landscape from above, the spectator’s “body diminishes” as they witness Earth’s body gradually taking shape. Home’s rushing rivers of Indonesia are akin to blood flowing through the veins and the Siberian permafrost seems like the texture of skin in extreme close-up. Arthus-Bertrand establishes a geocentric embodiment to force spectators to perceive and experience the environmental degradation brought about by the dominant social practices of contemporary post-industrial modernity. The film-maker visualises the maltreatment of the environment through suggested abuse of the Earth’s body. Images of industrial agricultural practices in the United States appear to leave scratches and scars on the landscape, and as a ship crosses the Arctic ice sheets of the Northwest Passage the boat glides like the surgeon’s knife cutting through the uppermost layer of the skin. But the deep blue water that’s revealed in the wake of the craft suggests a flesh and body now devoid of life, a suffering Earth in the wake of global climatic change. Arthus-Bertrand’s images become the sublime evidence of human intervention in the environment and the reflection of present-day industrialisation materially altering the face of Earth. The film-maker exploits spectators’ geocentric perspective and sensibility to prompt reflexivity, provide revelations about the self, and unearth the forgotten shame and guilt in having inadvertently caused excessive environmental degradation. Following the sequences establishing Earth as the body of the text Arthus-Bertrand returns spectators to their everyday “natural” environment—the city. Having witnessed and endured the pain and suffering of Earth, spectators now gaze at the skyscrapers standing bold and tall in the cityscape with disillusionment. The pinnacles of modern urban development become symbols of arrogance and exploitation: structures forced upon the landscape. Moreover, the images of contemporary cityscapes in Home serve as triggers for ritual reflexivity, allowing the spectator to “perceive the self [...] as a distanced ‘other’ and hence achieve a partial ‘self-transcendence’” (Beck, Comments 491). Arthus-Bertrand’s aerial photographs of Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo fold these distinct urban environments into one uniform fusion of glass, metal, and concrete devoid of life. The uniformity of these cultural landscapes prompts spectators to add the missing element: the human. Suddenly, the homes and offices of desolate cityscapes are populated by none other than us, looking at ourselves from a unique vantage point. The geocentric sensibility the film-maker invoked with the images of the suffering Earth now prompt a revelation about the self as spectators see their everyday urban environments in a new light. Their homes and offices become blemishes on the face of the Earth: its inhabitants, including the spectators themselves, complicit in the excessive mistreatment of the planet. The second stage of the ritual allows Arthus-Bertrand to challenge dominant social paradigms of present day post-industrial societies and introduce new, alternative moral directives to govern our habits and attitudes. Following the separation, ritual subjects enter an in-between, threshold stage, one unencumbered by the spatial, temporal, and social boundaries of everyday existence. Turner posits that a subjects passage through this liminal stage is necessary to attain psychic maturation and successful transition to a new, stable state at the end of the ritual (The Ritual Process 97). While this “betwixt and between” (Turner, The Ritual Process 95) state may be a fleeting moment of transition, it makes for a “lived experience [that] transforms human beings cognitively, emotionally, and morally.” (Horvath et al. 3) Through a change of perceptions liminality paves the way toward meaningful social action. Home places spectators in a state of liminality to contrast geocentric and anthropocentric views. Arthus-Bertrand contrasts natural and human-made environments in terms of diversity. The narrator’s description of the “miracle of life” is followed by images of trees seemingly defying gravity, snow-covered summits among mountain ranges, and a whale in the ocean. Grandeur and variety appear to be inherent qualities of biodiversity on Earth, qualities contrasted with images of the endless, uniform rectangular greenhouses of Almeria, Spain. This contrast emphasises the loss of variety in human achievements and the monotony mass-production brings to the landscape. With the image of a fire burning atop a factory chimney, Arthus-Bertrand critiques the change of pace and distortion of time inherent in anthropocentric views, and specifically in contemporary modernity. Here, the flames appear to instantly eat away at resources that have taken millions of years to form, bringing anthropocentric and geocentric temporality into sharp contrast. A sequence showing a night time metropolis underscores this distinction. The glittering cityscape is lit by hundreds of lights in skyscrapers in an effort, it appears, to mimic and surpass daylight and thus upturn the natural rhythm of life. As the narrator remarks, in our present-day environments, “days are now the pale reflections of nights.” Arthus-Bertrand also uses ritual liminality to mark the present as a transitory, threshold moment in human civilisation. The film-maker contrasts the spectre of our past with possible visions of the future to mark the moment of now as a time when humanity is on the threshold of two distinct states of mind. The narrator’s descriptions of contemporary post-industrial society’s reliance on non-renewable resources and lack of environmentally sustainable agricultural practices condemn the past and warn viewers of the consequences of continuing such practices into the future. Exploring the liminal present Arthus-Bertrand proposes distinctive futurescapes for humankind. On the one hand, the narrator’s description of California’s “concentration camp style cattle farming” suggests that humankind will live in a future that feeds from the past, falling back on frames of horrors and past mistakes. On the other hand, the example of Costa Rica, a nation that abolished its military and dedicated the budget to environmental conservation, is recognition of our ability to re-imagine our future in the face of global risk. Home introduces myths to imbue liminality with the alternative dominant social paradigm of ecology. By calling upon deep-seated structures myths “touch the heart of society’s emotional, spiritual and intellectual consciousness” (Killingsworth and Palmer 176) and help us understand and come to terms with complex social, economic, and scientific phenomena. With the capacity to “pattern thought, beliefs and practices,” (Maier 166) myths are ideal tools in communicating ritual liminality and challenging contemporary post-industrial society’s dominant social paradigms. The opening sequence of Home, where the crescent Earth is slowly revealed in the darkness of space, is an allusion to creation: the genesis myth. Accompanied only by a gentle hum our home emerges in brilliant blue, white, and green-brown encompassing most of the screen. It is as if darkness and chaos disintegrated and order, life, and the elements were created right before our eyes. Akin to the Earthrise image taken by the astronauts of Apollo 8, Home’s opening sequence underscores the notion that our home is a unique spot in the blackness of space and is defined and circumscribed by the elements. With the opening sequence Arthus-Bertrand wishes to impart the message of interdependence and reliance on elements—core concepts of ecology. Balance, another key theme in ecology, is introduced with an allusion to the Icarus myth in a sequence depicting Dubai. The story of Icarus’s fall from the sky after flying too close to the sun is a symbolic retelling of hubris—a violent pride and arrogance punishable by nemesis—destruction, which ultimately restores balance by forcing the individual back within the limits transgressed (Littleton 712). In Arthus-Bertrand’s portrayal of Dubai, the camera slowly tilts upwards on the Burj Khalifa tower, the tallest human-made structure ever built. The construction works on the tower explicitly frame humans against the bright blue sky in their attempt to reach ever further, transgressing their limitations much like the ill-fated Icarus. Arthus-Bertrand warns that contemporary modernity does not strive for balance or moderation, and with climate change we may have brought our nemesis upon ourselves. By suggesting new dominant paradigms and providing a critique of current maxims, Home’s retelling of myths ultimately sees spectators through to the final stage of the ritual. The last phase in the rite of passage “celebrates and commemorates transcendent powers,” (Deflem 8) marking subjects’ rebirth to a new status and distinctive perception of the outside world. It is at this stage that Arthus-Bertrand resolves the emotional distress uncovered in the separation phase. The film-maker uses humanity’s innate capacity for creation and renewal as a cathartic cleansing aimed at reconciling spectators’ guilt and shame in having inadvertently exacerbated global environmental degradation. Arthus-Bertrand identifies renewable resources as the key to redeeming technology, human intervention in the landscape, and finally humanity itself. Until now, the film-maker pictured modernity and technology, evidenced in his portrayal of Dubai, as synonymous with excess and disrespect for the interconnectedness and balance of elements on Earth. The final sequence shows a very different face of technology. Here, we see a mechanical sea-snake generating electricity by riding the waves off the coast of Scotland and solar panels turning towards the sun in the Sahara desert. Technology’s redemption is evidenced in its ability to imitate nature—a move towards geocentric consciousness (a lesson learned from the ritual’s liminal stage). Moreover, these human-made structures, unlike the skyscrapers earlier in the film, appear a lot less invasive in the landscape and speak of moderation and union with nature. With the above examples Arthus-Bertrand suggests that humanity can shed the greed that drove it to dig deeper and deeper into the Earth to acquire non-renewable resources such as oil and coal, what the narrator describes as “treasures buried deep.” The incorporation of principles of ecology, such as balance and interconnectedness, into humanity’s behaviour ushers in reconciliation and ritual cleansing in Home. Following the description of the move toward renewable resources, the narrator reveals that “worldwide four children out of five attend school, never has learning been given to so many human beings” marking education, innovation, and creativity as the true inexhaustible resources on Earth. Lastly, the description of Antarctica in Home is the essence of Arthus-Bertrand’s argument for our innate capacity to create, not simply exploit and destroy. Here, the narrator describes the continent as possessing “immense natural resources that no country can claim for itself, a natural reserve devoted to peace and science, a treaty signed by 49 nations has made it a treasure shared by all humanity.” Innovation appears to fuel humankind’s transcendence to a state where it is capable of compassion, unification, sharing, and finally creating treasures. With these examples Arthus-Bertrand suggests that humanity has an innate capacity for creative energy that awaits authentic expression and can turn humankind from destroyer to creator. In recent years various risk communication texts have explicitly addressed climate change, endeavouring to instigate environmentally consequential social action. Home breaks discursive ground among them through its ritualistic construction which seeks to transform spectators’ perception, and in turn roles and responsibilities, in the face of global environmental risks. Unlike recent climate change media texts such as An Inconvenient Truth (2006), The 11th Hour (2007), The Age of Stupid (2009), Carbon Nation (2010) and Earth: The Operator’s Manual (2011), Home eludes simple genre classification. On the threshold of photography and film, documentary and fiction, Arthus-Bertrand’s work is best classified as an advocacy film promoting public debate and engagement with a universal concern—the state of the environment. The film’s website, available in multiple languages, contains educational material, resources to organise public screenings, and a link to GoodPlanet.info: a website dedicated to environmentalism, including legal tools and initiatives to take action. The film-maker’s approach to using Home as a basis for education and raising awareness corresponds to Antonio Lopez’s critique of contemporary mass-media communications of global risks. Lopez rebukes traditional forms of mediatised communication that place emphasis on the imparting of knowledge and instead calls for a participatory, discussion-driven, organic media approach, akin to a communion or a ritual (106). Moreover, while texts often place a great emphasis on the messenger, for instance Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth, Leonardo DiCaprio in The 11th Hour, or geologist Dr. Richard Alley in Earth: The Operator’s Manual, Home’s messenger remains unseen—the narrator is only identified at the very end of the film among the credits. The film-maker’s decision to forego a central human character helps dissociate the message from the personality of the messenger which aids in establishing and maintaining the geocentric sensibility of the text. Finally, the ritual’s invocation and cathartic cleansing of emotional distress enables Home to at once acknowledge our environmentally destructive past habits and point to a hopeful, environmentally sustainable future. While The Age of Stupid mostly focuses on humanity’s present and past failures to respond to an imminent environmental catastrophe, Carbon Nation, with the tagline “A climate change solutions movie that doesn’t even care if you believe in climate change,” only explores the potential future business opportunities in turning towards renewable resources and environmentally sustainable practices. The three-phased processural form of the ritual allows for a balance of backward and forward-looking, establishing the possibility of change and renewal in the face of world risk. The ritual is a transformative experience. As Turner states, rituals “interrupt the flow of social life and force a group to take cognizance of its behaviour in relation to its own values, and even question at times the value of those values” (“Dramatic Ritual” 82). Home, a ritualised media text, is an invitation to look at our world, its dominant social paradigms, and the key element within that world—ourselves—with new eyes. It makes explicit contemporary post-industrial society’s dependence on the environment, highlights our impact on Earth, and reveals our complicity in bringing about a contemporary world risk. The ritual structure and the self-reflexivity allow Arthus-Bertrand to transform climate change into a personally salient issue. This bestows upon the spectator the responsibility to act and to reconcile the spectre of the past with the vision of the future.Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Dr. Angi Buettner whose support, guidance, and supervision has been invaluable in preparing this article. 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