Minding the Climate : How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis
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| Title: | Minding the Climate : How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis |
|---|---|
| Description: | A neurosurgeon explores how our tendency to prioritize short-term consumer pleasures spurs climate change, but also how the brain's amazing capacity for flexibility can—and likely will—enable us to prioritize the long-term survival of humanity.Increasingly politicians, activists, media figures, and the public at large agree that climate change is an urgent problem. Yet that sense of urgency rarely translates into serious remedies. If we believe the climate crisis is real, why is it so difficult to change our behavior and our consumer tendencies?Minding the Climate investigates this problem in the neuroscience of decision-making. In particular, Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD, points to the evolution of the human brain during eons of resource scarcity. Understandably, the brain adapted to prioritize short-term survival over more uncertain long-term outcomes. But the resulting behavioral architecture is poorly suited to the present, when scarcity is a lesser concern and slow-moving, novel challenges like environmental issues present the greatest danger. Duhaime details how even our acknowledged best interests are thwarted by the brain's reward system: if a behavior isn't perceived as immediately beneficial, we probably won't do it—never mind that we “know” we should. This is what happens when we lament climate change while indulging the short-term consumer satisfactions that ensure the disaster will continue.Luckily, we can sway our brains, and those of others, to alter our behaviors. Duhaime describes concrete, achievable interventions that have been shown to encourage our neurological circuits to embrace new rewards. Such small, incremental steps that individuals take, whether in their roles as consumers, in the workplace, or in leadership positions, are necessary to mitigate climate change. The more we understand how our tendencies can be overridden by our brain's capacity to adapt, Duhaime argues, the more likely we are to have a future. |
| Authors: | Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Brain--Evolution, Neural circuitry--Adaptation, Climate change mitigation, Neuropsychology, Brain--Psychological aspects |
| Categories: | SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Neuroscience, MEDICAL / Neuroscience, SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution, SCIENCE / Cognitive Science, SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: nlebk DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) An: 3308243 RelevancyScore: 1110 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: eBook PubTypeId: ebook PreciseRelevancyScore: 1109.74133300781 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Minding the Climate : How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: A neurosurgeon explores how our tendency to prioritize short-term consumer pleasures spurs climate change, but also how the brain's amazing capacity for flexibility can—and likely will—enable us to prioritize the long-term survival of humanity.Increasingly politicians, activists, media figures, and the public at large agree that climate change is an urgent problem. Yet that sense of urgency rarely translates into serious remedies. If we believe the climate crisis is real, why is it so difficult to change our behavior and our consumer tendencies?Minding the Climate investigates this problem in the neuroscience of decision-making. In particular, Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD, points to the evolution of the human brain during eons of resource scarcity. Understandably, the brain adapted to prioritize short-term survival over more uncertain long-term outcomes. But the resulting behavioral architecture is poorly suited to the present, when scarcity is a lesser concern and slow-moving, novel challenges like environmental issues present the greatest danger. Duhaime details how even our acknowledged best interests are thwarted by the brain's reward system: if a behavior isn't perceived as immediately beneficial, we probably won't do it—never mind that we “know” we should. This is what happens when we lament climate change while indulging the short-term consumer satisfactions that ensure the disaster will continue.Luckily, we can sway our brains, and those of others, to alter our behaviors. Duhaime describes concrete, achievable interventions that have been shown to encourage our neurological circuits to embrace new rewards. Such small, incremental steps that individuals take, whether in their roles as consumers, in the workplace, or in leadership positions, are necessary to mitigate climate change. The more we understand how our tendencies can be overridden by our brain's capacity to adapt, Duhaime argues, the more likely we are to have a future. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ann-Christine+Duhaime%2C+MD%22">Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Brain--Evolution%22">Brain--Evolution</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Neural+circuitry--Adaptation%22">Neural circuitry--Adaptation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Climate+change+mitigation%22">Climate change mitigation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Neuropsychology%22">Neuropsychology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Brain--Psychological+aspects%22">Brain--Psychological aspects</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SCIENCE+%2F+Life+Sciences+%2F+Neuroscience%22">SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Neuroscience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22MEDICAL+%2F+Neuroscience%22">MEDICAL / Neuroscience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SCIENCE+%2F+Life+Sciences+%2F+Evolution%22">SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SCIENCE+%2F+Cognitive+Science%22">SCIENCE / Cognitive Science</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22SCIENCE+%2F+Global+Warming+%26+Climate+Change%22">SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 612.8 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Brain--Evolution Type: general – SubjectFull: Neural circuitry--Adaptation Type: general – SubjectFull: Climate change mitigation Type: general – SubjectFull: Neuropsychology Type: general – SubjectFull: Brain--Psychological aspects Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Minding the Climate : How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2022 – D: 06 M: 09 Type: profile Y: 2022 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780674247727 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780674287617 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780674287624 Titles: – TitleFull: Minding the Climate : How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis Type: main |
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