April 2019 And Beauty for All Newsletter - The Climate Paradox

[Benjamin Sovacool]

Hi all, it’s not just apathy. Per Espen Stoknes, who does work on psychology here in Europe, wrote a very compelling article back in 2014 about the “psychological climate paradox.” Astoundingly, as science about climate change becomes more certain, public concern drops.  He explores why, and it’s a variety of psychological factors including apathy and ambivalence but also denial and a number of self defence mechanisms. A fascinating read, and one where Per Espen also talks about what he sees as a solution, which is “re-framing” climate change. The original is here:

 

But a pirated version free to download is here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629614000218

 

https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/278817/Stoknes_ERSS_2014.pdf?sequence=5

 

From: sco...@googlegroups.com <sco...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Jean Boucher
Sent: 23 April 2019 04:48
To: John de Graaf <jo...@comcast.net>; SCORAI Group <sco...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SCORAI] April 2019 And Beauty for All Newsletter...

 

Thanks, John, for showing up. Yes, it is indeed frustrating. There is some question though as to your question: Renee Lertzman has done some wonderful work, I think, on the myth of apathy. It may be apathy, but it's good to identify what we're up against. She talks about people being too overwhelmed with other concerns to add more - but i don't want to put words in her mouth.  Jean

 

On Mon, Apr 22, 2019 at 5:53 PM JOHN DE GRAAF,* JOHN DE GRAAF <jo...@comcast.net> wrote:

https://us17.campaign-archive.com/?u=a7f307ad90757965779359714&id=09012e8d80

 

Had a tough experience today--was the keynote speaker for Earth Day at the University of Washington, talking about the Green New Deal.  Only about 20 students showed up for the event, even though the speaker right before me was former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell (who was very good and talked about voluntary compliance by business is something of a chimera--you have to have regulations and a stick as well as incentives.  But I'm dismayed by the turnout at a time like this.  Of course everyone has a million activities, and their devices...

 

How do we challenge the apathy?

 

John de Graaf

www.johndegraaf.com

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If there is no struggle, there is no progress. -- Frederick Douglass

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[Tom Abeles]

Excellent article

It would be interesting to look at the "Sunrise" movement to engage youth on climate change and look at the tactics that they are using

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[Halina Brown]

Another explanation may be that the students assumed that the speakers will focus on describing the problem we are facing, which they feel they already know, without outlining solutions that students can take part in. In recent years there has been too much of that kind of talk and too little about empowering young people in participating meaningfully in social change in their redular lives

 Not everybody wants to engage in a political process of demonstrating aganst fossil fuel industry or pushing government toward pricing carbon. 

And in any case, these are far removed from everyday life of most people, leading to "there is little I can do about it" attitude. It seems toe that you people need to see some concrete choices that will lead to significant results.

 

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[JOHN DE GRAAF,* JOHN DE GRAAF]

I think you are right here, Halina.  I was speaking on the Green New Deal, which does appeal to students but the publicity that went out for my Earth Day talk did not mention that, only my name, which doesn't mean anything to the students.  I am surprised though that Sally Jewell also had such a small crowd as she is a big name and especially here, where in addition to being Interior Secretary, she was the longtime CEO of REI which is based in Seattle.  I think the bigger issue is all the activities expected of students, the much increased coursework and the fact that professors no longer encourage students to attend and participate in events.  The School of the Environment was the sponsor of the event but they made no effort to encourage their several hundred students to attend--it was merely a sideshow.  

It was also mid-day on the Monday after Easter so probably some students had not returned from the weekend.  You are right that students are aware of the problems and want to know what they can do but that is what I tried to address in my talk.

thanks!

John

John de Graaf

www.johndegraaf.com

[Tom Abeles]

Hi John/All

The New Consensus, https://newconsensus.com/, which I posted earlier has been advising AOC and the NGD at the federal level for both public and private participation. This provides the leadership direction for the Sunrise efforts where the students, understanding where this is going can choose how and when to participate rather than pointing out to them from an academic where there might be "projects". This is a significant difference in approach and one that is difficult for many used to academia both students and faculty but it mirrors what happened in the antiwar and civil rights movements which Sunrise and others have studied.

For this effort to move it needs to step outside of Academia. To move the effort forward, it needs those who are actively moving projects forward where Sunrise and participants can see the use, support and drive it. This movement is now at the policy and program level and well "off campus".

As I have noted, and the literature shows, there needs to be funding which does not send profits back to Wall Street. One example would be a State or National banking system which gives society a return on investment which they failed to get from all the underwriting of "tech" that underpins Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, GAFA. There are others which are pinch points or levers where, as in the Antiwar/Civil Rights movements, activism can lead to substantive change.

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