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Changing society's behavior to use less oil and other resources
Transcript (courtesy Energy Bulletin) Extract
Post Carbon Institute board member Nate Hagens discusses conspicuous consumption as a natural behavior--one that can be changed, one that must be changed quickly if we are to create stable, resilient societies.
"Without behavioral change, without changing the carrot that the United States and the countries that follow us compete for, away from conspicuous consumption... its only going to be fingers in the dyke, temporary fixes."
"Without behavioral change, without changing the carrot that the United States and the countries that follow us compete for, away from conspicuous consumption... its only going to be fingers in the dyke, temporary fixes."
Transcript (courtesy Energy Bulletin) Extract
Well, I think I have a somewhat of a decent pedigree to talk about this, because I used to deal with billionaires, managing their money, and some of them had $100,000,000, and all they wanted to do was to get to $200,000,000, and then quit. And then they got to $200,000,000, and they got to $500,000,000, et cetera, and I noticed at the same time that the clerks who were making $25,000 a year were just as happy as these billionaires.
And then I started reading about evolutionary psychology. We pursue dopamine and different neurotransmitters because they feel good. And it took me a very long time to understand that it is the pursuit of resources and status that gives us the feelings of success, rather than the actual use and acquisition of the resources.
And then I started reading about evolutionary psychology. We pursue dopamine and different neurotransmitters because they feel good. And it took me a very long time to understand that it is the pursuit of resources and status that gives us the feelings of success, rather than the actual use and acquisition of the resources.
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