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Climate One

Yes, Happiness and Climate Action Can Go Together

Climate One

Climate One

Earth Sciences, News, Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science

4.7585 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Our brains have evolved over millions of years to deal with immediate and direct challenges, but they’re not so great at processing large existential threats, like the climate crisis. Understanding why people behave the way they do could be a critical step in bringing about more meaningful climate action. Despite having the technical ability we need to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, we’re on a path to surpass that number by the early 2030s. Yet doom and gloom framing can drive people away from even thinking about the climate crisis. How can we use our understanding of behavior to incorporate happiness into meaningful climate action?    Guests:  Ann-Christine Duhaime, Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Author of Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

AI is incredible. They can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style.

0:07.0

But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts.

0:14.0

It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief and it doesn't need to be taught.

0:20.0

Because Slackbot isn't just another AI.

0:23.3

It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot to learn more.

0:30.4

This is Climate 1. Our brains have evolved over millions of years to deal with immediate and direct challenges,

0:36.5

but they're not so great at processing

0:38.3

relatively new and indirect threats posed by carbon dioxide.

0:42.5

It isn't the least bit surprising that our brains simply are not matched for this very, very

0:49.2

rapid onset problem in evolutionary time. And our brains, which like immediate gratification, are challenged by environmental and other

0:58.0

actions that involve costs today and benefits in the future.

1:01.7

Pro-environmental decisions that we make generally are simply not going to feel as rewarding

1:09.1

in the same way that we're used to making decisions.

1:11.9

Maybe we need to change the way we frame our actions altogether.

1:15.4

This is why we need to bring happiness into this picture, because your happiness benefit

1:20.3

is instantaneous.

1:22.1

Happiness and climate action can go together. Up next on Climate One.

1:30.3

I'm Greg Dalton.

1:31.3

And I'm Arianna Brocious.

1:33.3

It's often said that the climate crisis is the biggest threat that we faced as a species,

1:38.3

and yet we have real difficulties grasping what that actually means.

1:42.3

Right. Our brains are the result of millions of years of evolution that taught us to react to immediate challenges

...

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