How Can Psychology Help Us Care for the Planet?
Have you been frustrated that most people really aren’t doing much when it comes to our climate crisis? Me too.
Three years ago a friend loaned me a book with valuable insights into human behavior, Fast Thinking Slow Thinking by psychologist Daniel Kahneman. In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Prize – in Economics. In his 2011 bestseller, he summarized his and fellow colleagues’ work on decision making. For three years I have combed Kahneman’s 500 page tome for clues as to what environmental initiatives are most likely to be successful.
Background
Kahneman asserts that we make decisions as if we have two brains: a quick thinking mostly automatic brain (System 1), and a slow thinking lazy brain (System 2) that carefully considers the facts and the big picture.[1] These are only conceptual constructs, but they explain a lot. We normally consider only what is right in front of us and apply prerecorded answers. Kahneman’s meme for this is What You See Is All There Is (WYSIATI).[2] He refers to a multitude of studies that confirm this facet of human behavior.
Consequently, repetitious advertising and propaganda are effective. And seemingly rational people (including myself) sometimes make irrational decisions. Most of us have observed these realities.
However, I studied Kahneman’s (and his colleagues’) more subtle findings. I asked myself what environmental practices and ways of communicating truly respect how we think. What works?
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Kahneman reports that well-considered algorithms can improve decision making. Test scores and previous work experience are often more reliable predictors of success than interviewers’ opinions. Experienced doctors save babies lives by answering five simple questions within the first minute of life outside the womb (Apgar test).[3] So…
Strategy 1. Adopt Simple Eco-criteria for Your Decisions
When buying household goods, ask: (1) Can I replace a disposable item with a reusable item? (2) Can I replace a toxic with a non-toxic? (3) Is there a durable or biodegradable alternative? My wife Willow proposed these criteria.
When buying food, ask: (1) Is it organic? (2) Is it local? (3) Is it regenerative (e.g., perennial or Regenerative Organic Certified)?
When planning or attending an event, ask: (1) Will the plates and cutlery be reusable? (2) Can people easily share transportation? (3) Can people participate on-line?
When choosing a partner, ask: (1) How many children does he or she want? Feel free to except adoptions. (2) Does he or she regularly eat beef? Seriously, beef has twice the climate impact of pork, four times the impact of chicken, 5 times the impact of cheese, 20 times the impact of tofu, and 40 times the impact of beans.[4]
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Daniel Kahneman notes that humans do strive for satisfaction which can entail considerable effort.[5] We arrange challenging vacations to “make memories.” As a mountaineer and trekker, I know that scenario well. So…
Strategy 2. Emphasize Satisfaction
Become an eco-tourist. Support local economies so that locals can take care of their world-class environments. Eco-tourism turned around the demise of sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea and brought vibrancy to poaching-cursed African parks. The International Ecotourism Society has members in 190 countries.
Earn a habitat certification. Check out the National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Program and the Oregon Bird Society’s Backyard Habitat Certification Program. Choosing and planting native bee and butterfly friendly bushes can bring great satisfaction. Similar reasoning applies to transforming a lawn into a food forest – which my wife and I have done a half dozen times.
Take a sabbatical (or equivalent). Enric Sala left his academic role at Scripps Institute of Oceanography because “the places I loved became less and less alive year after year.” This led to the founding of Pristine Seas which arranges expeditions in cooperation with island nations to help them protect their aquatic wildlife. Likewise, my sabbatical in 1989 allowed me to move beyond a project I was struggling with. And it freed me to lead the Resource Supply Expansion Program which demonstrated better ways for utilities to promote energy conservation and renewable energy.
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Kahneman allows that some quick-acting people can be depended on to make quality decisions. Why? Because they’ve been thoughtfully trained (or educated) so that their intuitive thinking is reliable in their area of specialty. This is how doctors, firefighters and pilots save lives.[6] So…
Strategy 3. Provide Eco Training, and Support Environmental Education
Attend an eco-workshop. Examples: Check out the Permaculture Design Certification Course and the Free Yearlong Permaculture Course. Oregon offers Master Recycler training and volunteering. For present and future activists the Pachamama Alliance offers the free on-line Game Changer Intensive. (I’m an alumni.)
Host an eco-workshop with neighbors. Willow and I have invited people to our home to learn about sheet mulching, eco-remodeling and mushrooms (led by Jordan Weiss an expert friend).
Give your children a nature education. Forest Kindergartens are in nearly every state. Contact the American Forest Kindergarten Association for one near you. Wilderness Awareness School, near Duvall Washington offers youth programs and summer camps for all ages. In 2016 two-thirds of voters in Oregon agreed to send each fifth or sixth grader to Outdoor School for a week.
Study environmental science. Scores of colleges offer degrees in environmental science or the equivalent. Featured in my most recent book: Arizona State University (my alma mater) offers a multitude of on-line and on-campus sustainability degree programs. Oregon State University links sustainability with traditional studies such as art, business administration, political science, even Spanish. Future zoo-keepers at Santa Fe College in Florida learn to help implement species survival plans.
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Kahneman shows that people are about twice (1.5 to 2.5 times) as likely to avoid potential loss as to invest in a statistically equivalent potential gain.[7] So…
Strategy 4. Organize Actions Around Incipient Losses
Report environmentally related health risks. Industries and developments that impact people’s health are ripe for community support. In New York, birth defects and miscarriages from polluted ground water near Love Canal ultimately led to legislation to clean up waste dumps – the Superfund Act. In Michigan, poisoning of Flint’s water renewed our nation’s commitment to replace lead in water pipes.
Respond to the threat of development. Impending loss sets the stage for protecting an environmental resource. Two Oregon examples: Nestlé’s plans to bottle water from a spring provoked the citizenry of Hood River County Oregon to pass an ordinance to prohibit it. Plans to turn nature-friendly Whitehorse Park into a paved RV park provoked citizens to testify at Josephine County hearings. The plan was dropped.
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According to Kahneman, we are less likely to “opt out” of a worthy program or habit than to “opt in”. Countries with high rates of deceased organ donors presume consent with an “opt-out” option.[8] Automatic payroll deductions to build retirement accounts are normal. So…
Strategy 5. Make a Commitment for Our Planet
Become a sustaining member with automatic monthly donations to your favorite environmental organization. You’ll be more generous than making one-time donations, and you’ll help stabilize their operation.
Set goals. I invite participants in my Environmental Handprint workshops to jot down five things they want to do for the planet; then tell a friend about them. By promising the editor of This Spaceship Earth one blog article a month I’ve tripled my environmental writing.
Forgo ownership. Willow and I check out tools at the tool library. We lived without owning a car for thirteen years before the COVID epidemic. For sixteen years we lived without a power clothes dryer. Expense savings and emission savings accrued accordingly.
Testify for earth-friendly ordinances. Community commitments are scalable and repeatable elsewhere. Single use plastic bags have been effectively banned in eight states and five hundred communities. Community rights ordinances have been passed in some 200 towns, cities and counties. They’ve been used to (locally) ban fracking, GMO agriculture, and disposal of toxic waste materials. Local ordinances have also secured water rights, and rights of nature.
Conclusion
Daniel Kahneman died in 2024 at the age of 90. He and his colleagues were criticized for marginalizing the importance of human judgment versus data and algorithms.[9] But, like physics, Kahneman’s discernment of the facts of life can be very useful.
It has been a journey compiling the strategies described above. May it serve other crew members of Spaceship Earth.
Bio: Jon Biemer is a Professional Mechanical Engineer registered in California. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and holds a certificate in Process Oriented Psychology. Some material in this article has been adapted from his two books: Our Journey to Sustainability (2024) and Our Environmental Handprints (2021), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.
[1] Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, New York, 2011), 19-30.
[2] Ibid, 85-88.
[3] Ibid, 224-227.
[4] The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos, by Mark J. Easter (Patagonia, Venture CA, 2024) 377.
[5] Thinking Fast and Slow, 388-389.
[6] Ibid, 239-244.
[7] Ibid, 283-284.
[8] Ibid, 373.
[9] Ibid, 227-229.