Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why Isn't the Brain Green?



This past weekend the New York Times Magazine included an article entitled Why Isn't the Brain Green?http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html It addresses the important question of why we don't make changes to preserve the wellbeing of our planet home, even when more and more information is sent our way which confirms that the 6.6 billions human beings on this planet are changing the climate and gobbling up its resources. While I consider myself fairly environmentally aware I still fly on planes, and drive a car and live in a big house (a manse mind you) that requires lots of fossil fuel to heat. While we are making lots of choices to be earth-friendly, I know full well that I could live a lot more simply if I wanted to.

That's what the article tries to get at. Maybe we just don't want to. Psychological experiments show that the majority of us will take ten dollars now rather than twenty dollars down the road. We are aren't big on delayed gratification or altruism. We get uneasy about the planet we are passing on to our kids and grandkids but in the back of our minds we may be thinking that they will figure out the problems with brave new technology, or that the climate change debunkers are actually right.

The article also asks whether we would be better off as a species to make decisions collectively and then expect individual compliance rather than the other way around. Many voices, including my own in this blog, encourage the individual acts which together will make a big difference. I won't change that tune, but there is something about the decision of the group which may invite the participation of Joe or Jill citizen. We usually assume that means government, but I would offer that the faith collectives -- in our case churches -- can create the climate (pun intended) for change.

Where are you in this? Oh yes, the images above are formed by members of a dance troupe. Cool.

1 comment:

Laura said...

I am beginning to wonder if the only fair and strong solution to the issues of the environment won't come from a revolution of individuals but rather from a series of legislations that hit us in the pocketbook. I do think the small things we do as individuals for the environment each day are a piece of the solution though,grounded in the ethos of respect and stewardship and responsibity. Sky high gas prices last summer seemed to reflect that when we're hit in the pocketbook today, we do adjust. I suppose out of necessity...rather than freewill.