SPPHERELab - Sustainability Psychology and Planetary Health Research Lab

20/05/2026

SPPHERE Lab is pleased to share that our Director, Dr. John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta, has joined the Advisory Board of cast.ac. uk, a UK-based research centre focused on climate change, behaviour, policy, and societal transformation.

The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations brings together scholars and prominent leaders from academia, government, media, and civil society to support evidence-informed climate action and public engagement.

For our lab, this opportunity reflects the increasing visibility of Global South perspectives in climate and psychology research and policy discourse.

We are grateful for the chance to contribute insights from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to broader international conversations on climate transformation, justice, behaviour, and wellbeing.

As a lab, we remain committed to advancing locally grounded and globally relevant research on climate change, mental health, sustainability psychology, and planetary health. 🌏

15/05/2026

Our sincere thanks to Dr. Daniella Watson for sharing such an informative and inspiring discussion on the health psychology perspective of climate change and mental health.

We are also deeply grateful to all participants who joined us from different parts of the world and contributed to a meaningful and engaging conversation on this urgent global issue. The exchange of insights, experiences, and perspectives made the webinar especially enriching.

We hope this webinar sparks continued dialogue, future collaborations, and more research initiatives dedicated to understanding and addressing the health and psychological dimensions of climate change.

Thank you once again for being part of this important conversation. 🌿

14/05/2026

1 day left to register and join our webinar with Dr. Daniella Watson 🌏

13/05/2026

📑 New published article available!

How does eco-anxiety relate to mental health over time?

This new study on eco-anxiety among Filipino young adults highlights the complex relationship between climate-related distress and mental health. Findings suggest that behavioral symptoms and personal impact anxiety may play a key role in later emotional distress and rumination, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of eco-anxiety in a climate-vulnerable, non-Western context.

The study also provides one of the first longitudinal validations of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale in the Philippines.

Read the article here:

13/05/2026

08/05/2026

Join us for a thought-provoking webinar with Dr Daniella Watson, a Health Psychologist, Behavioural Scientist, and Research Fellow at Imperial College London’s Climate Cares Centre. 🌍💚 Drawing from youth-led research across the UK, Kenya, Australia, the Philippines, and the Caribbean, she will share insights on climate change, mental health, and empowering conversations for climate action.

This webinar is a collaboration between DLSU Department of Psychology, SPPHERELab - Sustainability Psychology and Planetary Health Research Lab, and PAP Environmental Psychology Special Interest Group.

Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/hU3a2KypQyOG0Je0xpGqRQ

28/04/2026

The SPPHERE Lab proudly shares with everyone our latest journal publication in the International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education. Congratulations and job well done to all the lab members who labored and toiled for this to come to be. 💚✨

Check the comment section for the link to read the full article.

27/04/2026

"A Home to Many 🌳🪿

Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park is Philippine’s first critical habitat and one of the country’s Ramsar site, a protected area due to its significant biodiversity. It is a home for 173 bird species, with 3000 individual visitors per day 🦆

Mangrove Matters PH gave me an opportunity to participate in the “Workshop for Young Science Communicators” in LPPWP. With a focus on science communication and the importance of mangroves, I was given an in-depth lecture on LPPWP, what mangroves are, their importance, and how we can protect them. We were also shown how to create storybooks, specifically about mangroves, for both young adults and children. We then toured LPPWP, where I first learned how to use my binoculars, and where I also first saw a heron up close ☀️

I have learned that mangroves like this are significant for its climate regulation, coastal protection, pollution filter, and the livelihood it provides. However, it is often undervalued and threatened due to aquaculture conversion, urbanization, pollution, as well as the climate crisis 💚

It was an honor to be a participant of this initiative."

Reflections by SPPHERE Lab Member, Ae Bonoan 🌱✨

09/04/2026

Maligayang Araw ng Kagitingan!

We are happy to share the news that we have another journal article published under the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the premier journal in Environmental Psychology. Our founding members along with our dear mentor, Dr. John Aruta, came together to work on this.

You may access the article here: https://lnkd.in/g4iCNyCg

30/03/2026

On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution at its seventy-seventh session to proclaim March 30 as International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually. International Day of Zero Waste reminds us the importance of valuing sustainable management practices that transform how waste is collected, managed, and also used. Zero waste views waste as a untapped resource that can be further utilized with safe and sustainable management. Together, we can work together to conceptualize and recreate how we view waste management and disposal.

References:

Kaza, S., Yao, L., Bhada-Tata, P., & Van Woerden, F. (2018). *What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050.* World Bank Publications.

Zaman, A., & Ahsan, T. (2019). Zero-waste: Reconsidering waste management for the future. Routledge.

Zaman, A. (2022). Zero-waste: a new sustainability paradigm for addressing the global waste problem. In The Vision Zero Handbook: Theory, Technology and Management for a Zero Casualty Policy (pp. 1195-1218). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

21/03/2026

WOOD you like to be sustainable? 🌳

The vernal equinox signifies new beginnings and growth, highlighting new energy—and a time to appreciate trees and its wood 🪾

Wood is always the most eco-friendly and renewable choice for a biomaterial. It has a significant role in biodiversity and forest conservation as well as sheltering animals in storms, among others 🌲

Today, may we be reminded of how valuable trees and its wood are, advocating for its responsible use 🦦🪵


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