Human Brains Aren't Green
Why We Can Only Fix, Not Prevent Climate Change
News reports recently highlighted a new super-white paint that reflects most sunlight back into space. Theoretically, if we were to paint the roofs of many of the world’s buildings with this paint, it might actually reduce global warming. Time will tell how effective this approach actually is, but it’s the first practically useful news on global warming in some time.
Reflective paint is a useful solution because it works within the confines of human behavior, not against it. The simple reality is humans can’t really prevent global warming, but they can fix it. I’ll explain.
A straightforward reality is that global warming (or climate change as it has been rebranded) has been a known thing for several decades, culture war debates aside. Much of the discussion of the issue has focused on the need to reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, either by simply reducing consumption or by switching to green sources of energy, such as wind, solar, etc.
To date, this approach has a fairly simple problem: it requires humans to either accept a lower standard of living, or higher energy prices as renewable energy sources come online. However, humans just are not geared toward accepting this. Our minds have evolved for short-term survival, which generally involves consuming what’s available in the short-term. We can see how this inclination affects diet, for instance. We’ve evolved to eat more, lest the future bring lean times. In the modern age, the future almost never brings lean times in developed nations, yet we continue to overeat. Even knowing this, dieting to lose weight is very difficult, and most people fail long term.
If we apply this concept to global warming, we see it will be difficult for humans to reduce consumption today in order to prevent some abstract future problem. I understand advocates will point to a sinking island somewhere at say “it’s not abstract!” but to most people not on that island, it is.
At the extremes, some climate activists advocate for things like washing clothes by hand, or switching entirely to veganism to save the planet. There’s a degrowth movement that advocates for a way of living that sounds a lot like the 18th century, yet is put in unrealistically utopian terms. The reality is humans are just not going to sacrifice like this. People are reluctant even to endorse modest increases to electricity bills to combat global warming. And, speaking personally, if I need to give up meat to save the world, the planet is going to burn.
People want governments to do something about climate change…they just don’t want to have to pay for it. This is human nature and climate activists shaking their fist at the sky over this isn’t constructive.
Humans aren’t good at sacrificing to prevent a bad thing. But they are good at applying ingenuity to fix it. Hence, my excitement regarding the new paint. Climate activists should be searching for other solutions to global warming not fantasizing about a prevention that won’t happen.
Unfortunately, as I document in my book Catastrophe: The Psychology of Why Good People Make Bad Situations Worse, climate activists have shot themselves in the foot with one solution: nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is far safer than fossil fuels and the only “green” energy currently capable of replacing fossil fuels. Yet unrealistic fears of nuclear energy have prevented its wide adoption. Germany even closed all its nuclear plants, distressingly returning to fossil fuels to replace nuclear.
The application of new technologies like nuclear power and reflective paint could do a lot to reverse climate change. But they need to work with human nature…which means people need to want these things short term…either because they provide inexpensive energy, or they add value, create jobs, etc. And no, shaming people does not work, nor does climate catastrophizing. Fixing climate change will require governments to support ingenuity in ways that are relatively painless to average citizens and do so in a way that works with capitalist systems which, contrary to the recent trendy Marxism, are actually best prepared to support inventiveness.
In the meantime, as ordinary citizens, don’t give up your hamburgers or washing machines. If you want to do something for the environment, get a tree. It’s probably one of the best things we can do to fight climate change and actually get something pretty and cool in the bargain.