Humans, Money, Squirrels and Nuts

In human psychology, money represents security, power, or both.  The quest for more, especially during times that feel threatening, can be an obsession unparalleled in its motivation.  This makes sense.  As any squirrel can tell you - “when me and my family are feeling threatened, it’s time to store as many nuts as possible, and I feel the best when I have all the nuts.”  When scientists point out that the quest for money can be antithetical to maintaining a livable planet, a threat to the accumulation of wealth (security) is perceived, and the justification engine that is human creativity kicks into high gear.  “We need the jobs, it’s all a hoax, the solutions are worse than business as usual, the poor will suffer the most, I have earned my position in the world and am due any spoils that I want, my little bit doesn’t matter, more CO2 is good for plants, you are going to kill everyone’s 401k, you are trying to impinge on my freedoms…”  The human ability to crank out creative excuses is an incredible force, driven substantially by profiteers  who understand how to whip up fear and resistance, all the while collecting more power and wealth.  

And yet, to climate scientists, ecologists, biologists, the indications that we are on a self-destructive path are irrefutable.  The “preponderance of the evidence,” the indicators, the statistics, the actual weather that we experience when we go outside,...all line up.  The train is heading towards the kids on the track.  Do we raise an alarm, grab the kids, or what?  We don’t have the capacity to fight power with power - all we have is persistence.  That’s it.  We sense a moral obligation and vow persistence.  We take our cues from women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement, the Velvet Revolution and Solidarity.  We can’t go away.  So if you are tired of hearing from us, we are sorry.  Most of us really don’t enjoy making noise or being a pain in the ass either.  But after trying so hard to be rational about all of this, and now being demonized for it, we truly don’t see another way.  It’s science versus instinct.  Ourselves the most challenging opponent.