Thinking while not thinking

What we think about when we try not to think about Global Warming
By Per Espen Stoknes
322 pages

“The metaphor is so obvious. Easter Island is isolated in the Pacific Ocean. Once the island got into trouble, there was no way they could get free. There was no other people from whom they could get help. In the same way that we on Planet Earth, if we ruin our own [world], we won’t be able to get help.” Jared Diamond

We’ve known about the way the climate goes for many decades now. The first time anyone proposed that our dependence on fossil fuels would increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was more than 100 years ago. Charles David Keeling made the first measurements that confirmed this idea in the 1950s. And since the 80s, 90s, and 2000s the data kept coming in. There is now no doubt that the climate on planet Earth is heating up due to increased levels of CO2. There is also no doubt that we are responsible for this. But here comes the conundrum. Why is it so hard for us to accept this, and change our behavior on a personal, local and global level? This exact question is the main focus of this book. It is not so much about the climate science itself, but how to communicate the science in the most effective way.

How does our psychology react when faced with uncomfortable facts? How can we use what we know about about the human nature to overcome the mental barriers that stop us from fully commit us to the big change we have to go through.

Per Espen Stoknes, is a psychologist and economist, and he has done research on environmental strategies and future scenarios. 

In this book he identifies five obstacles in our minds that gets in the way of accepting the conclusions of todays climate science.  Stoknes follows with suggested solutions to the same obstacles. 
A lot of communication about the predicament of climate change focuses on melting polar caps and pictures of polar bears on smaller and smaller pieces of ice. This creates distance to the whole idea and doesn’t really convey why this is important. Why should we care about something happening far far away? focusing on ppm CO2 in the atmosphere it doesn’t really help people understand what the problem is. We don’t have an intuitive understanding of something like that. The problems needs to be identified as local and described in a way that is relevant to people. And the obstacles needs to be framed just like that. Like obstacles that are solvable. Stoknes also mentions that because our minds are more geared towards avoiding bad outcomes than seeking out positive one,  we should always present three positive opportunities for each threat we mention. 
Such as in the way Arnold Schwarzeneggger does here. 

If climate change is framed as the end of the world it will only create apathy and that will prevent proper action. And the longer we wait the more likely a catastrophic scenario is. The solutions needs to be social meaning we need to nudge people in to making better decisions. One suggestion I found really good was to exploit our social need to compete with each other. Why not show the average energy consumption in a given area on the electricity bill? That would create an incentive to save more energy.

Stoknes does have a very valid point that when it comes down to choosing between scientific truth and our tribal identity the science looses every time. You see it in the denial of evolution in religious groups and you can definitely see it on the right-left axis when it comes to climate change. The author has a couple of good suggestions on how to solve this. Convince someone in the “denial tribe” to accept the evidence and to be a role model for the rest. Because internal adjustment is always easier than accepting something an outsider tells you. This is good sound advice. He also has a somewhat interesting suggestion. By “depoliticising” topics we are also less likely to fall into the tribal trap in the first place. This sounds all good, but how the heck do you actually do it in practice?

There are three parts to the book. Thinking, Doing and Being. I found the first two the most interesting and relevant. The last one was a bit too hippie for me. But then again maybe it brushed up against one of my own mental barriers? Who knows.. 

Communicating the science

How we communicate science is extremely important. Especially in an age where people still choose “alternative medicine” and to listen to deranged actors talk about vaccines instead of listening to proper medical advice. The tools in this book should be more utilized when it comes to all kinds of science. People are people and it is too easy to call someone stupid for not making what is considered the right choice. Our evolved minds are less than fully rational and we are limited in all kinds of ways. We are prone to magical thinking, easily scared and we are more concerned with social retributions from “our tribe” than what might be right. But in the long run we can still move society towards a better future. So long as we make sure that we have the proper institutions and networks in place. The scientific method is one of those and the best method we have that can produce relatively reliable information. When reading this book and the psychological barriers in our minds it reminded me of smokers or people that are overweight and how they always seem to be able to defend their situation. 
I think it is important to remember that it is not obvious when we ourselves are stuck in a barrier somewhere. We should therefore be sympathetic to those who are. For my own sake I’ve drastically cut down on meat consumption, I take the train instead of flying when I can,  and I am also about to get rid of the fossil driven car. Might get an electric car in the long run. We’ll see. I’ve also decided to vote in Sweden as a swedish citizen for the last time. Will apply for norwegian citizenship after the swedish election. Because I am tired of not being able to let my vote nudge our society towards a more ecofriendly future.

Conclusion

This is an important book that everyone should read. It is fairly short and it is an easy read. I think I read it in about a week. Even though I (think I)  already know  a lot about the topic I learned alot. It made me even more acutely aware of the predicament we are in. But at the same time humanity has faced huge problems and solved them before. famines, diseases, hole in the ozone layer, acidic rain, etc. I think we will be able to pull our collective heads out of our own asses and deal with this problem too. Lets face it. We have to! I might be clinging to a thin straw here, but I prefer to stay positive. 

“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” Carl Sagan

Rating 6/6
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If you want a 15 min summary of the book by the author himself you can watch his TED Talk here

#climatechange #perespenstoknes #psychology #cognitivedissonance