Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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166 S far<strong>the</strong>r horizons<br />
persons, believes itself <strong>to</strong> be highly moral, has little capacity for<br />
critical thinking, and is plagued by hypocrisy and double standards<br />
(Altemeyer, 1996 and 2004).<br />
From <strong>the</strong> work <strong>of</strong> psychologist Erik Erickson (1963) and o<strong>the</strong>rs,<br />
we know that childhood matters. Many personality traits,<br />
including willingness <strong>to</strong> trust, openness <strong>to</strong> experience, creativity,<br />
and problem-solving skills, are formed early in life. A society<br />
shortchanges child raising at its peril. We know that exposure <strong>to</strong><br />
violence early in life can wi<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mind associated<br />
with compassion and empathy. Harvard pr<strong>of</strong>essor Martin Teicher’s<br />
research shows, for example, that:<br />
Stress sculpts <strong>the</strong> brain <strong>to</strong> exhibit various antisocial, though adaptive,<br />
behaviors. Whe<strong>the</strong>r it comes in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> physical, emotional<br />
or sexual trauma or through exposure <strong>to</strong> warfare, famine<br />
or pestilence, stress can set <strong>of</strong>f a ripple <strong>of</strong> hormonal changes<br />
that permanently <strong>wire</strong> a child’s brain <strong>to</strong> cope with a malevolent<br />
world. Through this chain <strong>of</strong> events, violence and abuse pass<br />
from generation <strong>to</strong> generation as well as from one society <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
next . . . once <strong>the</strong>se key brain alterations occur, <strong>the</strong>re may be no<br />
going back. (Teicher, 2002, p. 75)<br />
Humanist psychologists like Carl Rogers (1961), Abraham<br />
Maslow (1971), and Erich Fromm (1981) have shown that emotion<br />
and rationality are not separate things but are so intertwined<br />
as <strong>to</strong> be parts <strong>of</strong> a larger whole. In <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> emotion, pure<br />
rationality can lead <strong>to</strong> outcomes such as Auschwitz, while pure<br />
emotion without a measure <strong>of</strong> rationality is ineffective (Damasio,<br />
1994). But <strong>the</strong>re is a strong tendency in Western culture <strong>to</strong> stifl<br />
e <strong>the</strong> expression <strong>of</strong> emotion only <strong>to</strong> have it erupt dangerously<br />
elsewhere. At some level, we understand <strong>the</strong> distinction between<br />
emotion and rationality <strong>to</strong> be false. It is emotion that causes a<br />
scientist <strong>to</strong> stay late <strong>to</strong> check <strong>the</strong> data one more time. And if we<br />
need medical attention or a good lawyer, we aren’t likely <strong>to</strong> seek<br />
out pr<strong>of</strong>essionals with no emotional commitment <strong>to</strong> health and