Culture & Behavior

Fatal Divisions Part III: Vested interests

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As a social scientist with a primary focus on environmental attitudes, values, and behaviors, I have long been interested in the concept of vested interests and how powerful of a motivator and behavioral driver it can be. While this post has languished for quite some time in the dustbin of my hard drive, several writers (e.g. Kunstler, Astyk) have reminded me that the concept of vested interests or, as it’s sometimes referred to, “psychology of previous investment”, needs much further discussion and enlightenment as a prime motivator and key obstacle to substantial and necessary culture change.

The Mistakes Economists Make

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How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? reminds us that the high priests of modern societies often have a muddled understanding of the economy they preside over. Their poor track record of late has not deterred many economists from making their usual prediction—despite the small bump in the road we’ve encountered lately, prosperity is just around the corner.

Start by Asking the Right Questions – Thinking About the Terms for the Debate on Local and Organic Food

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One of the reasons discussions of whether “organic” and “local” can “feed the world” often founder so badly is the whole set of presumptions that preceed such a discussion. So let’s talk about those – James McWilliams’ book _Just Food_ and others have stirred up a good bit of controversy on this subject, and lots of people seem to know the answers. But the real problem is that most people don’t really seem to understand what the questions are.

Peak Moment 150: The Waking-up Syndrome

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Ecopsychologist Sarah Edwards, PhD, explains stages people often go through when facing the implications of climate change and resource depletion. She outlines various aspects of Denial, Anxiety, Awakening, Despair, Powerlessness and eventual Acceptance. Differentiating these from the normal grief process, Sarah emphasizes how we can face inevitable feelings of grief and free our energy for positive, practical action in our personal and community lives. (http://eco-anxiety.blogspot.com)

The Labor Day Blues

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One national moment-of-nausea this Labor Day weekend struck Sunday morning, when CNN’s John King led off his 10 a.m. State of the Union show with a valentine to ABC’s Diane Sawyer, on her becoming anchor of that network’s evening news. (This was the most important news of the week???) The old legacy networks have taken on the role of dishing out reassurance to an anxious and insecure public as job number one, and the subtext of the Sawyer lede was that a Mommy figure would soon be in place to soothe the multitudes even as the nation free-falls into bankruptcy and disorder.

Health Care in a Phantom Democracy

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Low cost health care, or rather medical care as it really is constituted, is not a benefit if healing is not the purpose. “Getting better” perhaps — through treatments purchased — is what’s hoped for, even for the rich. In their case, life is sometimes extended through great expense, but is it worth living hooked up to machines? Democracy has come to mean the poor too are on multiple legal drugs, with side-effects requiring still more drugs.