Ecological Intelligence (04/18/14)

Published: May 16, 2014, 4 p.m.

b'What\\u2019s really preventing us from enacting environmental change? Blame our brains, says Daniel Goleman, author of Ecological Intelligence. As he explains it, \\u201cThe problem comes down to a design flaw in the human brain.\\u201d Evolution fine-tuned our brains to protect us from immediate survival threats \\u2013 lions, tigers and bears. But long-term dangers, such as those that threaten our planet today, don\\u2019t register. \\u201cThe problem is that we don\\u2019t perceive, nor are we alarmed by, these changes,\\u201d says Goleman. \\u201cAnd so we\\u2019re in this dilemma where we can show people, \\u201cWell, you know, your carbon footprint is this,\\u201d but it doesn\\u2019t really register in the same way as \\u201cthere\\u2019s a tiger around the block.\\u201d Facts alone aren\\u2019t enough, he adds, \\u201cWe need to find a more powerful way of framing them\\u2026a way which will activate the right set of emotions and get us moving.\\u201d George Lakoff, a linguistics professor at U.C. Berkeley, sees the issue as a moral, rather than environmental, crisis: \\u201c\\u2026the greatest moral crisis we have ever been in. It is the moral issue of our times and it\\u2019s seen just as an environmental issue.\\u201d But morality can mean different things to different people. This sets up a debate that quickly goes from the political to the personal, as Josh Freedman, author of Inside Change, points out. \\u201cWhen we start saying, \\u201cokay, they\\u2019re good, and they\\u2019re bad,\\u201d what happens is we\\u2019re actually fueling this threat system that is what\\u2019s in the way of us actually solving these problems.\\u201d So what is the solution? How do we retune our primitive brains \\u2013 and those of our political and business leaders \\u2014 to focus on a less than clear, less than present danger? Throughout the discussion, several key avenues rose to the top: economics, education and emotional appeal. If major institutions can be persuaded to divest from environmentally unsound companies, says Lakoff, \\u201cthen what will happen is that the prices of the stocks will go down for those energy companies. When they go down that way, they stay down\\u2026you have an opportunity to shift investment away in a way that has an exponential feedback loop.\\u201d Educating today\\u2019s youth was a powerful and recurring theme for all the speakers. \\u201cWhat kids learn and tell their parents is important,\\u201d Goleman said. \\u201cSchools are a big counterforce that we can do a much better job of deploying in this battle for minds and heart.\\u201d Despite our primitive wiring, the speakers concluded, we humans do have the capacity for the ecological intelligence \\u2013 and the morality \\u2013 to effect global change. \\u201cYour morality is what defines who you are as a human being,\\u201d says Lakoff, \\u201cit\\u2019s who you are emotionally and morally as a human being that matters in your life, what you do every day. This isn\\u2019t a matter of compromise\\u2026we have, like, 35 years to turn this around, period. That\\u2019s not long.\\u201d \\u201cAll change starts on the inside,\\u201d says Freedman, \\u201cIf we can support children and adults to connect with that capability and to develop what\\u2019s already there, then things are going to get a lot better.\\u201d Daniel Goleman, Author, Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy (Crown Business, 2010) Joshua Freedman, CEO, Six Seconds; Author, Inside Change: Transforming Your Organization With Emotional Intelligence (Six Seconds, 2010) George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and author of many books, including The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist\\u2019s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (Penguin Books, 2009) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on May 1, 2014.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'