The Crocodile Brain and Climate Change
Since the latest UN Climate Report was released last week with it’s dire prediction, there has been a lot of talk. Unfortunately, it does not seem to me like it will change our path to life-threatening climate change or to boldly prepare us for the new era that lies ahead.
This image of a crocodile helped me see the problem rather starkly. Our primary filter is in our amygdala, in our limbic system, the very primitive area of the brain. Sometimes it is referred to as the reptilian brain, or the crocodile brain, since that is still the structure of theirs. The “croc brain” takes care of simple needs and threats.
To get its attention, something has to trigger a high bar for interest such as an imminent threat, what we often call the fight or flight instinct. And, therein lies the problem, for us humans. Like the crocodile we do not perceive slow existential threats as a trigger for the fight or flight instinct.
Developing beyond the reptiles, mammals, particularly humans, have the neocortex, which is the higher level part of the brain that allows processing of language and abstract reasoning. Our species now has the capacity to contemplate the future and thus consider the world as it will be, by mid-century, essentially one generation from now.
One would think that a report like the latest UN IPCC which questions the feasibility of halting runaway climate change would cause immediate, massive action on a global scale. However, the reality is in our ever increasing complex world our focus and energy are splintered by so many competing perceived threatening issues — from daily economics, to supreme court nominees, to healthcare, to Brexit, just to name a few.
What we need to realize is that the pace at which climate is changing has the potential to cause mass extinction including our own and will surpass all these other existing near-term issues and problems. We need to fight against our own nature and instincts and truly deal with this as a slow, life threatening situation. Our children, grandchildren — and in fact entire our species depends on it.
Like the altered priorities and sacrifices that characterized historical “wartime efforts” we need to be clear that there is no higher priority than trying to alter our path to human-induced climate change. We can debate all we want as to the outcome or whether other nations are doing enough, but until we make this priority #1, it is all inconsequential.
We need to balance the importance of slowing climate change (mitigating) and adapting to that which is already unavoidable, against all the other things to which we commit our weekly hours. If we each committed just one hour a week to assert the importance of climate change priorities, that could make a difference. Standing silent and fretting about it do no good. Your voice matters and your vote matters. Please make your own efforts and join group efforts like Citizens Climate Lobby and 350.org. Most important, vote for candidates that consider climate change as the most important priority. We all should treat this as if our lives depended on it. Action beats despair.
To quote Dee Hock (the founder of VISA credit cards),
It’s far too late, and things are far too bad, for pessimism.