![]() To compound all that, we tend to seek out information not for the sake of gaining knowledge for its own sake, but to support our already-established viewpoints.ĭaniel Kahneman, Nobel Memorial Prize winner in economics, writes in “ Thinking, Fast and Slow” that our brains respond most decisively to those things we know for certain. Our built-in “optimism bias” irrationally projects sunny days ahead in spite of evidence to the contrary. “Loss aversion” means we’re more afraid of losing what we want in the short-term than surmounting obstacles in the distance. Humans are saddled with other shortcomings, too. It’s not happening nearly quickly enough to get our attention.” “Many environmentalists say climate change is happening too fast. While we have come to dominate the planet because of such traits, he said, threats that develop over decades rather than seconds circumvent the brain’s alarm system. “That’s why we can duck a baseball in milliseconds.” “Our brain is essentially a get-out-of-the-way machine,” Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard best known for his research into happiness, told audiences at Harvard Thinks Big 2010. Part of the reason, according to these studies, is that – for the human brain – climate change simply does not compute.įor one thing, human brains aren’t wired to respond easily to large, slow-moving threats. Thanks to decades of collaboration between neuroscientists and psychologists – bolstered by the advent of imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, which allows them to see exactly how the brain makes choices – we’re beginning to understand just why people behave so irrationally. With so much at stake, why do people fail to act? What’s happening inside their brains? ![]() “Science has spoken,” UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said during the report’s release. Earlier this month, for example, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report came out, warning of “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” if carbon emissions are not halted fast. ![]() It’s not as though the facts aren’t there: the global scientific community has warned us for years about the present and future impacts of climate change linked to fossil fuel use. But how to explain the paralyzing resistance to climate change action, where the risks approach existential peaks unseen in historical human experience?ĭespite spending a record amount of money to sway the mid-term US elections, environmental groups and high-profile donors failed to avert a sweeping Republican victory last week, in which candidates opposing the regulation of greenhouse gases and championing the expansion of tar sands pipelines won big. ![]()
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