In this wide-ranging interview, after 40 books, thousands of scientific papers, and 40 years after “The Population Bomb” – Dr. Paul Ehrlich talks about our dependence of fossil fuels, climate change, toxic disruption, and food.
His new book “Humanity on a Tightrope” is not about population! Instead, Erhlich and co-author psychologist Robert E. Ornstein look into the human brain for a tool that could help us survive the multiple threats facing humanity.
Humans were a “small group animal.” We are hard-wired to know and operate in groups of less than 150 people. Within that group, we also have nerves in the brain which allow us to more or less know how the others think. This empathy may be unique among the animals, with the ability to “step into the other person’s shoes”.
Erhlich and Ornstein argue this empathy trait must be extended to include the whole human family, if we are to survive.
In this important interview, Dr. Ehrlich is not optimistic we will do it. Our prognosis doesn’t look good, as he explains. Still, it is possible – and we spend time looking at the reasons for hope.
Alex Smith
Radio Ecoshock
http://www.ecoshock.org
