Unfortunately, this is the culture that has been exported to the rest of the world, for decades already.

Oh, I should clarify that the “environmental psychology” class I mentioned above was not environmental in the sense of ecological; it was just in the sense of one’s surroundings. But Edney is a very bright guy, and I have high hopes for those articles on greed — whenever I’m able to get to them. :-/

Question: “Does the subject of mass extinction have a unique place in our toolbox of ways to wake people up to the realities of our ecological crisis?”

Yep, I hear you. This is something very fundamental, deeply ingrained in human society today.

On greed, here’s a link to something I still need to read, but on which I may base a post in the future:

http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue31/Edney31.htm

http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue32/Edney32.htm

Julian Edney, the author, taught an “environmental psychology” class I took in college. It was one of my favorite classes as an undergraduate. In Part I (as I recall… I skimmed them a couple of months ago) he makes a mistake, from my point of view, in kind of dismissing limits to growth. But it’s just a quick mention, so I’m not sure what his real view on that is. Overall, though, it looks like a very interesting read.

Let me take you back to the beginning. In a comment to your opening post – “Welcome to Growth is Madness!” – you made a quick remark which really makes sense. – About “pure greed.”

I don’t believe that too many psychologists and philosophers, for instance, are too keen on acknowledging the notion that a growth in pure greed (as well as other human vices) might be the real thing.

It seems to me like most people (and university paid social scientists, for that matter) are finding it extremely difficult to admit that all this talk about a world crisis can have anything to do with anything that stands any chance of making any sense to anyone … I believe you can catch my drift? …

Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that. I’m way out of touch with the research going on in various branches of psychology, but I would think somewhere in the whole body of social psychology research, recent or older, there should be examinations of denial of a sort relevant to what’s going on today.

Unless a social psychologist reads this and responds, though, it would take some library research to dig it up.

But it would have some real value if someone put together a review of relevant literature and looked at how it relates to today’s situation.

I do recall an “eco-psychologist” or two in the video. I suppose those folks must have a good deal to say about it. Whatever they’re saying though, it’s not getting a lot of publicity.

“what if this tendency is proving to be the most natural societal response to all the extreme information originating from a variety of scientific milieus, and is floating about in the blogosphere these days?”

Hmmm, I wonder what social science research may tell us about denial of this sort — what triggers it, what might help prevent it, etc. I mean, it clearly happens, but I wonder how much we actually know about it from various angles, looking at individuals and groups, trying to extrapolate to society, etc.

A brilliant video. Absolutely fabulous.

- —

Too many people are choosing to ignore the bleedin’ obvious. Like the limits to growth, for example. People can readily acknowledge the natural existence of such limits, yet they’re still free to choose to ignore any such knowledge. I don’t know: what if this tendency is proving to be the most natural societal response to all the extreme information originating from a variety of scientific milieus, and is floating about in the blogosphere these days?

*sigh*

My case in point is this:

According to Websters, the definition of “ignorance is, quite simply, “the lack of knowledge or education.” On the other hand, we have the verb “ignore”, which is defined as:

1. Refuse to acknowledge; “She cut him dead at the meeting”.
2. Bar from attention or consideration; “She dismissed his advances”.
3. Fail to notice.
4. Give little or no attention to; “Disregard the errors”.
5. Be ignorant of or in the dark about.

**double sigh**

I remain as worried as ever before, about the problematic difference between the individual person and the social creature which gives rise to whole social systems, economies, markets, political systems, social stratification systems, religious faiths and cultural beliefs. … uhmmm, and so on …

What’s the relevance of “nature” compared to all these?