Dragons of inaction
Are our brains be getting in the way of how we process climate change? Rob Law opens the lid on our ancient brain and how cognitive biases help and hinder our climate response
Rob’s notes:
Have you often faced a problem that seems so big your brain hurts or feels like its shutting down? Climate change feels like one of those problems that is so large and cuts across such a vast expanse of time and space that its almost impossible to fully comprehend .
Yet at the same time it is here and now and is fundamentally reshaping our lives and everything within it.
Not only are our cultural worldviews shaping how we define it as a problem and respond with solutions, but our very own brains have evolved in a way that is also limiting our ability to grasp the changes underway.
This piece is populated with just a few of the interesting ideas and thinkers out there on this big topic such as Robert Gifford, Shankar Vadatam, Caroline Hickman, J Marshal Shephard and Tali Sharot.
In putting this piece together and others elsewhere on our site, Kyla and I are trying to explore the different ways we might be able to start listening in more closely to ourselves. Through closer observation of our minds, our emotions, our culture and our physicality, we might become more aware of the barriers and enablers towards a deeper, more substantive response.
Credits
co-Produced by Kyla Brettle & Rob Law
Sound Design by Rob Law
Music by Rob Law
Materials
”If I only had a brain”, Wizard of Oz
Caroline Hickman Presentation, TedX Talk
Tali Sharot Presentation, TED talk
J Marshal Shephard, TedxUGA
Robert Gifford on Sarah McConnells “With Good Reason” podcast
Asher Miller on Crazy Town podcast episode “Cognitive Biases and Global Warming”
Shankar Vadatam “The Hidden Brain” podcast
Brad Wray, Cognitive Dissonance song
License
CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike)
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