Inside the Climate Denying Mind

More potent than the most virulent tirades from flaming climate deniers, are the silent thoughts that circle in our minds and negate even our greenest intentions. It takes trained attention to catch these thoughts. Right now, for instance, I am about to go grocery shopping at Whole Foods. Only a few miles away. No objective reasons for why I can’t bike. Still, my mind is already made up:

I am going to drive. Don’t ask me to be good. Don’t ask me to be green. I don’t feel up to it. Need to be pampered. Out of sight, out of mind. Plus I am angry about stuff. Can’t deal with all that other shit. I fall back on what’s familiar, what I know best. Can’t, don’t want to make the extra effort. Right now, it is just me, me. Could care less about the planet, and what’s going to happen in ten, even a few years from now. It is too much work. I want simple. No room for other considerations. 

See what I mean?

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Saving Ourselves From Ourselves

Someone very dear to me has been reminding me that nature’s got its ways, and that we, humans better listen. Someone very dear to me is suffering from a weakened heart, as a result of too much exercise and not enough food. She was in the hospital two weeks ago, and got out, barely out of the danger zone. Forgot the doctors’ orders, and started walking, and biking all over town, like before. A visit to the doctor yesterday brought some sobering news. My loved one’s heart is showing signs of weakening again, and a second hospitalization is on the horizon. That, she does not want. The memory of her first stay in the hospital, and how horrendous that felt, is still very fresh. Finally, she is hearing what her heart has been trying to tell her, and she is taking steps to heal. It’s taken that much for her behavior to change. 

My point is we can only ignore nature’s callings for so long. Our planet is heating up, sending us distress signals all over the place. Many of us are listening, but not really. It is business as usual. Driving, flying, whenever we feel like it. Firing up new coal plants to power our consumption habits. Building new and bigger homes. Drilling for more oil. Eating daily Happy Meals. Like my loved one, we need an experience akin to her first hospital stay. Something extremely unpleasant, that makes clear, the connection between our old behavior and the inevitability of personal disaster if we do not change. 

Of course, this begs the question of, can anything be done to change such a course of events? Can humans be reasoned into a wiser course of action, sooner, and without having to pay the unnecessary costs of  their foolishness? Psychology teaches us that the first step is to become conscious of our thoughts and our actions. There needs to be a public discourse around the personal dimension of climate denial. I have spent many posts in this blog, exploring that aspect, using myself as subject for such self-exploration. That is just a start. Other psychologists, journalists, bloggers, meditators, need to jump in and expose further, the various mental blocks of the climate denying mind.

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How Much Do You Bother?

Michael Pollan‘s got it all right in ‘Why Bother?‘‘, his long and well worth reading article in today’s New York Times. And puts back the responsibility for climate change right where it belongs. On I, on you, on us. Here is the part that really struck a chord with me:

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them. And those who did change the way they live would acquire the moral standing to demand changes in behavior from others – from other people, other corporations, even other countries.

All of this could, theoretically, happen. What I’m describing (imagining would probably be more accurate) is a process of viral social change, and change of this kind, which is nonlinear, is never something anyone can plan or predict or count on. Who knows, maybe the virus will reach all the way to Chongqing and infect my Chinese evil twin. Or not. Maybe going green will prove a passing fad and will lose steam after a few years, just as it did in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan took down Jimmy Carter’s solar panels from the roof of the White House.

Now, I need to be honest with myself, and all of you, and face up to all the reasons why I have not made more changes yet in my still very carbon polluting lifestyle. The impatience I shared in ‘Lots of Talk About Sustainability, Little Action‘ was as much about my own behavior as about the persistent apathy in my fellow Americans. Sure I have made progress compared with one year ago when I started on this journey. I have cut down my shopping to the bare necessities, mainly food. I am biking, and walking, and taking the train, more and more. I remember to turn off the power strip for my computer most of the times. I am planning my groceries a lot more efficiently. I do laundry only once in a blue moon, and save the dryer only for the small items. etc . . . One could say I am doing better than most.

Better than most is still not good enough. I know it. I am still letting my seventeen year old daughter drive her SUV, because ‘if she wants a new car, she’s got to buy her own, and the SUV is the only old car we can spare’. I still have not resigned myself to condemning the pool. We don’t heat it, but the filter goes on year round. I am still quick sometimes to grab the car keys, when ‘I am in a hurry’, or ‘it is too cold out’, or ‘it is getting dark’. You get the picture. The reality still has not completely sunk in.

On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 not bothering at all to 10 being 100% committed, I see myself as a 6. How about you?

 

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Driving the Climate Message Home

The bathroom sink seems to be the most propitious place for my ah-ah moments. This morning, as I washed my face, the realization of the water running a bit too long threw me into deep thoughts. What will it take to drive the global warming message home? What will it take for my new habits to become second nature?

I started playing with this notion of first and second natures. First nature for most of us is a world infused with assumptions of abundance and demands of convenience. Second nature needs to become a way of living based on limited material resources and respect for the laws of the natural world.

I wrote before about ‘What’s Bred In the Bone‘ and our propensity to fall back onto our old ways. The best that I can come up with, is that I – we – need help to develop and support that second nature. Help in the form of technologies, sensory/automatic reminders, consequences, practical solutions, consistent messaging, inspiring leadership, and supportive social networks.

Going back to the running faucet example, a simple solution would be to install a timer on the faucet. So that the environment trains me to behave.

 

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Don’t Blame People For Caring More About Animals Than Climate Change

From Greenbiz, I learned about a recent survey from the UK Co-op amongst its 100,000 members. The survey provides a very telling picture of people’s mindsets relative to all things green. Because if its scale – 100,000 members polled, the findings are significant. Co-op shoppers were asked the following question: what is your top ethical priority (when shopping for food)? Here are the results:

Ethical trading 27%
Animal welfare 25%
Environmental Impact 22%
General animal welfare issues 21%
Fairtrade 14%
Food Quality, Diet and Health 12%
General environmental impact 9%
Community Retailing 9%
General ethical trading 8%
Packaging and waste 8%
Sound sourcing (inc child labour) 5%
Animal testing 4%
Climate change 4%
Sustainable sourcing 1%
Other 5%

A common interpretation of those results has been that ‘Brits Care More About Animals Than Climate Change’:

Paul Monaghan, the Co-op‘s head of ethics, said the group believed that consumers’ apparent indifference to climate change was likely to be the result of believing they have little influence to force change: “They may believe they are powerless on climate change. People can choose to buy Fairtrade or Freedom Food labels, but there is no carbon label yet. We think shoppers see climate change as an issue for corporations and governments.“

This is consistent with most of the research we have seen so far. Climate change is perceived as a global issue, to be addressed globally. Until it is made personally relevant and people are given the solutions to address it, it will most likely remain so.

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Group Hug Anyone?

Found this morning in my Inbox:

Andy Hobsbawm sent a message to the members of Do the Green Thing.——————–
Subject: Two groundbreaking announcements about using body warmthBecause Feb’s Green Thing is about Using Body Warmth and turning your heating
down a bit or off a bit, this Valentine‘s Week you can take part in two daring
experiments in communal warmth and trust. 

1) The world’s first global experiment in decentralized cuddling.

For five days between 10am – 6pm GMT this week, brave
Green Thing volunteers are turning their heating off and shivering like jellies
unless you send them a body-warming hug.

Just mosey over to hug.http://dothegreenthing.com and press the big, green HUG
button and see what happens. You can chat to them too – even make special
requests.

2) And if that wasn’t enough there’s also the world’s first Body Warmth Flash
Hug in Soho Square, W1 this Valentine’s Day lunchtime at 1.30pm.

The plan: turn the heating down or off for a bit in your homes or offices, come
to Soho Square at lunchtime, hug some beautiful people (or some of the Green
Thing team) then go back to your unheated homes and offices with a huge body
warmth boost. (Green nibbles like celery or apples may be provided).

You can sign-up on this FB event page, or just show up: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8199023999

*walking to Soho Square good, flying to Soho Square bad

Such a brilliant, zany idea. I can’t say enough about it.

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The Secrets of Effective Green Communication

GreenBiz reports on a recently released joint study from Yankelovich and Getty Images, the ‘MAP Report 2: Aspirational Environmentalism‘:

Firms seeking to advertise their green credentials should shun generic images associated with climate change such as polar bears and melting ice floes, according to a major new survey of green advertisements and consumer attitudes.

The study from picture agency Getty Images assessed 2,500 advertising campaigns from last year for its annual “What Makes a Picture” (MAP) report and concluded that many of the conventional images used to promote green campaigns were in danger of becoming visual clichés.

“When it comes to the visual language of the environment, we are in danger of killing it as a meaningful symbol with visual cliché,” said Lewis Blackwell, creative advisor at Getty Images. “The first lesson we must learn in order to grab any attention is to make Death to Environmentalism our mantra and kill off the clichés of ecology.”

Rebecca Swift, global creative planning director at Getty Images, warned that pictures of ice caps and polar bears in particular “will not resonate with consumers in the future.”

The report recommends that advertisers instead embrace more localized images that are relate more closely to consumers’ experience of the environment. “Whatever the product, the closer to home you can pitch the communication the better the opportunity to win over the hearts and minds of consumers to green products and behaviors,” it claims. “This is probably not good news for communicators who have been enjoying economies of scale in recent years by running global campaigns.”

It also advises advertisers to challenge consumers’ negative attitudes towards the environment head-on, arguing that campaigns should not shy away from addressing issues such as consumer indifference, concerns over greenwashing and resentment about the commercialization of a social cause.

These are important findings. At the same time, the study does not tell us anything we could not infer from previous research, and also good marketing practice. Advertisers and marketers need to empathize with their target ‘consumers’ – I use this term reluctantly, as I believe we should increasingly relate to people as citizens instead of consumers. Empathizing means acknowledging the reality of where people are:

1. a combination of apathy, frustration, resentment, some of it that can be linked to Steven Running theory of Climate Grief
2. cynicism and doubt bred by experiences of greenwashing
3. guilt from being asked to make life changes that are impossible to achieve, given present solutions
4. a thirst for information
5. a physical reality linked to place, time, and personal experience; make it personal, make it local.

Practically, this means giving people solutions to real problems, not trying to force upon them products and messages decided by wannabe green marketers. The ‘Green‘ magic can only go so far.

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From Shopaholic to Eco-Worrier

My good friend Christine has been looking for a present, for me. She was just at Anthropologie, my favorite store, but could not find anything. That’s fine, I tell her, I do not need, do not want anything. The urge has died. My wavering green conscience from a few months ago has grown strong now, and with it, the moral resolve to no longer participate in the further demise of our planet, whenever I can. I find this evolution of mine absolutely fascinating, and worth examining.

It was not that long ago, that I was a shopaholic. Revisiting my blog entries from last year, I wonder who is that person?:

April 23

Charlotte asked me to spend the day with her in San Francisco. She wants to see the Vivienne Westwood exhibit at the De Young, and then go shopping to H&M, with lunch in between. How could I possibly refuse? a day with my dear daughter all to myself. Plus, H&M is one of my favorite stores anyway. Once in the store, I am seized with a frenetic urge I know all too well. Gone my resolutions to no longer consume, my determination to boycot slave labor. Nothing is left, except guilt, that keeps nagging at me whenever I grab yet another dress, another cute top, another deal too good to pass up. The whole experience is a mixed bag of excitement, and disappointment. I am disappointed with myself for not being stronger, for giving in, once again. The spectacle of my other fellow shoppers, all shopping like mad, just like me, transport me for a minute in a place I would rather ignore. The earth has become dark, and a huge landfill with mountains of discarded clothes, that leave no more room for us to be and breathe. Charlotte calls me, she has found a white dress she wants me to look at. I push the fleeting image of doom into the recesses of my thinking brain. Charlotte and I are on a mission and nothing will stop us.

July3

The paper is filled with July 4th coupons. Will I go to Macy’s to take advantage of their incredible sales? The sight of my closet, overflowing with clothes should be enough of an answer. I really do not need anything. That’s besides the point, however. I, and most of the other women I know, do not shop because we need clothes. Shopping is just something to do when one is bored, or feeling a little down. It is called retail therapy.

August 3

I am a Target addict. It only took reading one small blurb in Jane magazine, about the upcoming release of Dominique Cohen for Target jewelry collection, to send me scouring through the Target website. I could feel the rush of anticipation, and while I was at it, I did a run through of the entire site, looking for other designer items at Target prices. Handbags, shoes, clothes, other jewelry, I did not miss a thing. How ironic, after I wrote this glorious post yesterday about wanting to become a buddhist! I started feeling guilty. Quickly, my mind fabricated an elaborate rationale for why I should be so obsessed with shopping. It said, you are a woman, you have been biologically programmed to want to adorn yourself, so you can better seduce your mate.

Now, what used to give me transient pleasure has become repulsive. The mere thought of going to Anthropologie and perusing the racks fills me with sadness. About our planet. About all the other women I see shopping still, seemingly oblivious to the consequences of their actions. Maybe they have not seen The Story of Stuff? Maybe their conscience is as mine was, whispering guilt laden words, but not loud enough yet to stop them?

I have to wonder, what is it that spurred this transformation to pure green eco-worrier? Wouldn’t it be nice to discover the secret elixir for green-ness? Noticing, and writing about my daily green sins certainly helped me become more conscious, a lot more conscious. No change in my behavior, that I could notice a first, however. No, it just took time. Time to pay attention, time to take in insights from fellow bloggers, time to watch heavy duty videos like The Story of Stuff. Time to stare at scary facts. Time for it all to sink in, down into my core. It was not one single thing that did it, but rather the combination of all that I let in. And the repetition over and over of the same message, that there is no way out of this predicament, and that it will take no less than all of us making changes in order for the planet to heal.

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What Does ‘It’ Have to Do With Obama and Global Warming?

On this Super Tuesday morning, I woke up wondering about the Obama phemomenon. What is ‘it’ about him that so enthuses me, and so many of my fellow Americans? ‘It’ has to do with the heart, and the imagination, and the soul, and yes, love also. ‘It’ has been cruelly absent from American politics for many, many years. ‘It’ was very much a part of the identities of John Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. ‘It’ belongs to the feminine realm. Oprah did not use the f-word in her LA Rally speech, but I am pretty sure that’s what she meant:

The fact that ‘it’, is absent from Hillary’s package, must be confusing for all the women yearning for a ‘she’ presence. The 100 New York feminist icons, who signed a petition to endorse Obama understand the difference. Same with Maria Shriver, and Caroline Kennedy, and Joan Baez. The feminine is a human value that transcends race, age, gender, occupation, and all the ways that one likes to classify humans. When ‘it’ is present, community, belonging, and harmony are restored. Which brings me to my next point.

In my mind, global warming is the symptom of a much deeper unrest. Nature’s way of telling us that we have gone too far with our dehumanized way of living. This morning the Associated Press released findings from a Nature Conservancy study on ‘Nature Giving Way To Virtual Reality’:

As people spend more time communing with their televisions and computers, the impact is not just on their health, researchers say. Less time spent outdoors means less contact with nature and, eventually, less interest in conservation and parks.

Camping, fishing and per capita visits to parks are all declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation, researchers report in Monday’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Declining nature participation has crucial implications for current conservation efforts,” wrote co-authors Oliver R. W. Pergams and Patricia A. Zaradic. “We think it probable than any major decline in the value placed on natural areas and experiences will greatly reduce the value people place on biodiversity conservation.”

“The replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia has far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health, especially in children,” Pergams said in a statement. “Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance.”

By studying visits to national and state park and the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses the researchers documented declines of between 18 percent and 25 percent in various types of outdoor recreation.

This is no small matter. When people stop relating to each other, and with nature, relatedness and belonging, those two hallmarks of the feminine, start to break down and to create a vacuum. What happens next? Trash on top of Mount Everest, disrespect for nature, excessive focus on the I, at the expense of others, emptiness that no amount of goods can ever fill, logging of entire forests, covering of the earth with vast expenses of concrete, the illusion of man as ruler of the Earth, and last failure to listen to unmistakable signs that the Earth is heating too much, too fast.

There are signs of the feminine making its way back, though. The overwhelming response of the crowds to Obama is one. Let us see tonight, if they really meant it.

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Greenblanking, Greenwashing, and Greenwagering

My mind, my heart wrapped up into the upcoming primaries, my usual concerns about the planet have subsided. I’ve got only so much room in my brain. I, who usually hardly watch any TV, have CNN on, round the clock, to make sure I will not miss a speech, or a change in the poll results. Today, was the LA Rally with Oprah, Caroline, and Maria. Twice, I had to replay their speeches on YouTube, so excited I was to hear them deliver all the right words to get our man elected.

Meanwhile I am getting a dose of Not So Green Exposure.

Ad break. Following Hillary, is a Chevron ad, washing over me with all its ‘green-ness’. They are an oil company, that they can’t deny, but look at all they are doing for the planet. Wind, solar, renewable, energy, they’ve got all the right words, and I am almost convinced.

 

Switch to more news. Southern China is in its fourth week of freakish weather. The weather about to take a turn for the worse. China’s big chill. Hundred thousands of people . Train passengers stranded. Police trying to keep the crowds in check.

More ads. Lincoln the hightest ranked premium car of 2008. Then it’s major greenwash again with Clean coal, from America’s Power.org.

Followed by the UPS store, and a fat guy shrinking fast thanks to Nutrisystem.

Back to Politico, and another debate, this time with the GOP candidates. Surprise, surprise, one of the interviewers brings up global warming. John McCain does a brilliant expose of Pascal’s Wager. ‘Suppose there no such thing as climate change, and we proceed with an aggressive environmental plan, at worst, we leave our children a cleaner world. Suppose we do nothing, what kind of a world would we give our children? . . .’ (I am paraphrasing, for the exact words, you will need to go to the New York Times tomorrow).

 

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