Don't Even Think about It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change

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In this timely and urgently needed book, George Marshall sets out to answer several questions that he poses in the opening chapter: “What explains out ability to separate what we know from what we believe, to put aside the things that seem too painful to accept? How is it possible, when presented with the evidence of our own eyes, that we can deliberately ignore something ��" while being entirely aware that this is what we are doing?” Over the course of the book, he explores many of the psychological and social traits that served us well over millions of years of our physical evolution on the savannas of Africa, but which are not serving us so well now, as we face perhaps the greatest existential threat to our civilization. Some of these traits include confirmation bias, present (time) focus, social conformity, group think, procrastination, valuing the messenger over the message, and the different functioning of our rational and emotional brains. He explores these issues with several psychologists and sociologists, who generally believe that climate change is “a threat that our evolved brains are uniquely unsuited to do a damned thing about”, as put by Harvard Professor of Psychology Daniel Gilbert. However, in order to gain the widest possible perspective on these issues, he immerses himself into cultures that many environmentalists would consider the belly of the beast of denialism, such as Tea Party meetings and evangelical church congregations. That he is able to discover important lessons on climate change communication from such unlikely sources is a testament to his open mindedness and humility. He also points out many of the approaches that environmental activists take that are proving to be counterproductive, if the goal is to move beyond preaching to the choir and encourage a mass movement to address climate change. Perhaps the most important of these is the tendency of environmentalists to adhere to the “information deficit” model of social change, which is the belief that if just the right information is provided to people, that they will see the light and act upon that knowledge. Much of the content of the book is showing just how completely untrue this is. He emphasizes that since the early days of climate change awareness, the policy focus has been on reducing emissions at the tailpipe, or smokestack, and not at the well-head or mine. This framing has hampered the ability to develop truly effective solutions, as policies should ideally address impacts at both ends of the carbon chain. He discusses how the framing of climate change as primarily an environmental issue was an early error of activists and environmental organizations. Those whose social groups reject environmentalism as mainly the purview of egg-headed liberal elites (e.g. Al Gore), have come to distrust the message of human caused climate change because they distrust the messengers. The way in which climate change has become politicized hampers the ability of people who are not environmental activists to accept it. The author does provide recommendations for effective climate change communication, but without giving away the punchline, this quote on the need to engage both the rational and emotional aspects of our psyches sums them up well: “So, advocates for action on climate change have to do everything they can to speak to both. They need to maintain enough data and evidence to satisfy the rational mind that they are a credible source. They then need to translate that data into a form that will engage and motivate the emotional brain using the tools of immediacy, proximity, social meaning, stories and metaphors that draw on personal experience.” The book is well structured, with many easy to read short chapters that make for easy pacing. He also provides two summary chapters that distill the many points he makes, which I found very useful. I believe this book is a must read for everyone involved in communicating about this “wicked” problem, as he puts it. I propose that we place copies of this book in time capsules around the world, in case our civilization does not heed the messages of this book, at least future survivors will know why.