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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 06:26 AM Mar 2013

Why Are We Giving the Silent Treatment to the Crisis Which Could Make All Others Irrelevant?

http://www.alternet.org/environment/bill-moyers-why-are-we-giving-silent-treatment-crisis-which-could-make-all-others



***SNIP

Tony Leiserowitz, welcome.

ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ: Oh thank you, Bill, it's great to be here.

BILL MOYERS: What did you mean that we almost couldn't design a problem that is a worse fit with our underlying psychology? What did you mean by that?

ANTHONY LEISEROWITZ: Well, look, as human beings we are exquisitely attuned to what's happening in our immediately environment and what we can see around us and what literally touches us physically.

If you're walking through the woods and you hear the crack of a stick behind you, your body immediately goes into a fear response, a fight or flight response. Climate change isn't that kind of a problem. It's not an immediate, visceral threat.
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Why Are We Giving the Silent Treatment to the Crisis Which Could Make All Others Irrelevant? (Original Post) xchrom Mar 2013 OP
Because if we cut emissions, China might not! Scootaloo Mar 2013 #1
We have no clue how to even slow our environmental destruction, so ignoring it is easy. Scuba Mar 2013 #2
Mankind's time on this earth is just a recent blip in our planet's 5.5 billion-year existence, yet indepat Mar 2013 #11
NO! progressoid Mar 2013 #12
You are going down the highway, Downwinder Mar 2013 #3
No but if you thought that the bridge might be out, you'd slow down. nm rhett o rick Mar 2013 #6
Great interview. raouldukelives Mar 2013 #4
K&R... There is no Planet B. RoccoR5955 Mar 2013 #5
It's profitable to ignore it. reteachinwi Mar 2013 #7
K&R nt abelenkpe Mar 2013 #8
and why do we give the silent treatment to the driving cause behind all the planetary crises? BlancheSplanchnik Mar 2013 #9
k/r. Good program limpyhobbler Mar 2013 #10
K&R I saw that episode of Moyers. Kurovski Mar 2013 #13
 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
2. We have no clue how to even slow our environmental destruction, so ignoring it is easy.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 06:46 AM
Mar 2013

Only when it rises up to bite someone personally in the ass do they even begin to think about the problem, and then, again, they have no clue what to do.

And please, don't suggest a "carbon tax" will do anything to slow the problem. While I applaud the intentions of those who back such plans, I've yet to see anything that suggests one could actually work.

indepat

(20,899 posts)
11. Mankind's time on this earth is just a recent blip in our planet's 5.5 billion-year existence, yet
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 09:25 PM
Mar 2013

man foolishly continues to think and act as if life will always be the same. When 10% of today's Florida has been claimed by the ocean, Republics might acknowledge climate change is real, but it will almost assuredly be too late to reverse what has become irreversible.

Downwinder

(12,869 posts)
3. You are going down the highway,
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:02 AM
Mar 2013

there is an accident blocking the road, do you worry about what caused it before you take your foot off the gas?

raouldukelives

(5,178 posts)
4. Great interview.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 07:50 AM
Mar 2013

It really resonated with me when he spoke about his favorite spot and seeing it change being his wake-up call. For myself it was exactly the same situation except for oak & redwood trees.

People who are connected to the land, who can see the changes happening, many of them are starting to wake up by themselves. I've spoke with them. Hard right leaning people who for as long as I have know them, hated environmental & species protecion acts. For as much as they have been taught to hate them, they have a love of the land they grew up on. That their families grew up on and that appears to overshadow any corporate sponsored training.

Sadly, for those isolated in steel forests, very few will feel that connection. Even more so on the hard right. I don't know how they can be reached, or at the very least, reached in time to avert the worst case scenarios. They are the captains of industry. The CEO's of Anything for a Buck Inc. They will never tire in the relentless pursuit of putting fiduciary responsibility ahead of moral, ethical or religious sentiments. I fear our only hope is that those who do still put some stock into those sentiments start holding less stock of those opposed to them.

Kurovski

(34,655 posts)
13. K&R I saw that episode of Moyers.
Sat Mar 23, 2013, 01:05 AM
Mar 2013

Aint I something?

I found the outline of the 6-or-so different types of people's response to the crisis interesting. if scientists could get together with Hollywood and the weather channel maybe they could create an experiential and therapeutic modality that would instigate the required sense of panic and horror before real panic and horror become pedestrian occurrences.

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