As we reel from the impacts of strange weather and the news of unprecedented ocean temperatures around the world, the moodsplainers are out in force. They tell us we are right to be anxious but wro…
My thanks to Prof Jem Bendell for expressing better than I could how misguided Rebecca Solnit and her ilk really are.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been looking for people who offer something other than hope, platitudes, and gentle transitions. Not because I’m suspicious of the “hopeful” position, or not only that, but to be fully informed on the issue of how to mobilize for concrete action.
I haven’t read much of the relevant psychology, but my reading of history convinces me that humans don’t act without an emergency. I see the challenge as being to help people understand that there is a real emergency, not a rhetorical one.
That, of course, is complicated by the fact that, in this case, the emergency isn’t really visible until the time to act has passed. That means some consequences are now unavoidable, which is something that human nature has difficulty grappling with. As a result, it’s very difficult to convince anyone, even those who are now living with some of those consequences, that the emergency can be anything other than rhetorical.
Wholeheartedly agree. Personally I believe that the only chance we as a species will be able to respond in time, is if there are a string of very acute very tragic disasters to galvanise a lasting global response. I don’t see how cooperation on such a scale is possible otherwise.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been looking for people who offer something other than hope, platitudes, and gentle transitions. Not because I’m suspicious of the “hopeful” position, or not only that, but to be fully informed on the issue of how to mobilize for concrete action.
I haven’t read much of the relevant psychology, but my reading of history convinces me that humans don’t act without an emergency. I see the challenge as being to help people understand that there is a real emergency, not a rhetorical one.
That, of course, is complicated by the fact that, in this case, the emergency isn’t really visible until the time to act has passed. That means some consequences are now unavoidable, which is something that human nature has difficulty grappling with. As a result, it’s very difficult to convince anyone, even those who are now living with some of those consequences, that the emergency can be anything other than rhetorical.
Wholeheartedly agree. Personally I believe that the only chance we as a species will be able to respond in time, is if there are a string of very acute very tragic disasters to galvanise a lasting global response. I don’t see how cooperation on such a scale is possible otherwise.