posted as sort of a companion to this thread, posted by denem:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5706307&mesg_id=5706307--------------------
http://www.stwr.org/climate-change-environment/the-human-brain-is-made-for-environmental-complacency.htmlThe Human Brain is Made for Environmental Complacency
Many governments are elected on platforms promising to address climate change, but fail to implement meaningful environmental policies once in office. Can this be explained by human psychology - and will it take a local climate catastrophe for them to finally act, asks Chris Goodall.
19th May 09 - Chris Goodall, Open Democracy
Most governments in the developed world were elected on platforms that promised aggressive policies on greenhouse gas emissions. The reality has not matched the commitments made. The reasons for this are multitudinous and no one should ever underestimate the difficulties of weaning advanced societies off the use of cheap and convenient access to fossil fuels.
But in addition to the standard reasons for slow progress we can see a large number of obstacles that spring from human psychology. In particular, some of the resistance to aggressive action on climate seems to spring from mental attitudes that may have helped us survive as a species in the past.
Perhaps politicians intuitively recognise the existence of these barriers. So they continue to say that climate change is the most important problem facing humanity at the same time as adding new runways to the local airport or sanctioning the development of new coal-fired power stations.
I see two groups of reasons why action on climate change is not as fast or as effective as the scientific consensus suggests is as necessary. First, although we are constantly fed with information on the severity of the threat, at some subconscious level most people believe that climate change is not dangerous.
Second, the desire to protect future generations – and current generations who live far from us – is much less well entrenched in human thinking than we piously assume.' What has posterity ever done for us?' The phrase may now be ridiculed, but it contains a worrying truth.
Optimism Bias
Human beings seem to have a psychological predisposition towards believing matters will eventually turn out well. The phrase 'optimism bias' is sometimes used to describe this phenomenon. We see this in many different circumstances. In the planning of a new construction project, for example, the costs are routinely underestimated.
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