Psychology of Global Warming

Over the last few years Global Warming has moved as a talking point of the green fringe to the main stream media. Politicians, for the most part, talk about global warming. The subject appears in our newspapers, on television, on the internet pages devoted to the subject as well as on news sites. With rising oil prices (see this page) discussions on the subject of Peak Oil, or simply living in a world of high energy prices and decreasing sources of easily available energy is moving from specialised websites to the mainstream media and politicians’ speeches.

One thing that I find interesting with these two phenomena and the challenges that they will impose on future generations, indeed in the coming decades, is our lack of a sense of urgency. Sure there is more talk about recycling, energy saving lights bulbs and hybrid cars, but these are far from enough. It is almost as though we are looking at how can we have what we have now, using the resources that we do use to live our current lives, while at the same time looking to have less of an impact upon the earth - the two just do not go together.

In this talk, Havard University Professor of Psychology Daniel Gilbert explores why despite the news that we are presented with concerning the possible consequences of not acting on the news of global warming, we appear to do very little to change our habits. This is even though because of our age the effects will not so much be felt by us, but by our children and grandchildren.