By: Matthew Wilburn King
Published:
8 March 2019, BBC, http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190304-human-evolution-means-we-can-tackle-climate-change
Level
of Difficulty: **
WATCH
These
documentaries are referred to in the text
·
Chasing Ice https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1wx8ti
·
Chasing Coral https://vimeo.com/229391539
QUESTIONS
Read
the introduction and answer the questions
1. What is surprising about our reaction to
climate change? Although there is ample evidence of the damage being done by
climate change,……
2. The introduction ends on a
hopeful/hopeless note. How do you know?
Read the section titled “Brain Biases” and answer the
questions
3. According to Conor Seyle, we are failing
to address the issue of climate change because…(There are two answers; find
both)
4. Look back on the three paragraphs you
have just read. We understand from the text that our attitude to external
threats depends to a large extent on….
5. What superior ability/ abilities is/ are
the brain of man capable of ?
6. The once useful cognitive ability we
posses described above has now become a handicap. The reason is that it…
WATCH BEFORE YOU CONTINUE:
7. Which of the cognitive biases listed in
the text are the following examples of:
·
The
municipality has set up collection points for collecting plastic. You cannot be
bothered to take your plastic. You think others are doing it anyway and you
won’t make a difference.
·
Fibromyalgia
can be treated with Xanax and similar drugs. Yet the same drugs can contribute
to the development of Alzheimer’s. The young person opts to take the drug
nevertheless
·
You are
putting your son through university. He does very badly the first year but you
continue paying his tuition, bed and board. He does equally badly the second
year. His brother tells you he should leave university and work. You decide to
keep pushing him.
8. What do you think the word
“hamstringing” means?
Read the section titled “Evolutionary Upside” and answer the
questions
WATCH BEFORE YOU CONTINUE:
9. In order to get a law degree in the US,
an individual needs to get his BA and then go to law school and even further
specialize should he wish to. Similarly an individual wishing to be doctor goes
through 6 years of medical school and then specializes. Both individuals have
to face roughly 10 years of further education after high school. These two
examples prove that we are perfectly capable of…
10. Consider the previous question and its
answer. Why are we failing to address climate change?
11. The purpose of Exposure Labs in its
choice of target group was …
12. A large company wants to reduce its use
of paper. Which of the following would yield more favorable results? Why?
·
Notifying all
departments that reducing the use of paper is the new policy decision
·
Pitting
departments against each other and posting the result on the company website
·
Pitting the
company against another company which has already reduced the use of paper
13. The business model applied in Japan is
the ringi system (find video). In this system even the worker lowest in the
company hierarchy can come up with original solutions and speak to managers. In
fact it is the worker who actually operates a piece of machinery who is
consulted if there is a problem with that machine. Why does this system work so
well?
14. Publicizing nightmare scenarios about
the long term effects of climate change have been ineffective because
15. You have installed solar panels on your
roof. You meet all your energy needs but you have energy to spare as well. You
feed this into the national grid and get paid for it. This would encourage /
wouldn’t encourage your neighbours to go down the same path because…
16. The writer bases the conclusion he reaches
at the end of the text on the facts that…
WRITING TASK
Discuss the reasons why we are
failing to address the issue of climate change
HOW BRAIN BIASES PREVENT CLIMATE ACTION; KEY
AND TEACHERS’ NOTES
The text provides a fascinating take on why
we are failing to tackle the obvious problem of climate change. We have all
often wondered why people are so slow to act when we can see the effects of
climate change all round us. This text tells you why. Despite the doom and
gloom at the beginning, it ends on an optimistic note.
1.
But that
information hasn’t been enough to change our behaviours on a scale great enough
to stop climate change
2.
No other species has evolved with such an
extraordinary capacity to solve it
3. It isn’t an
immediate threat/ it is a complex threat
4.
The way our
brains have evolved over the last two million years.
5.
Filtering information/ remembering what is immediately essential and that
which is not
6.
Makes it difficult to address complex long-term challenges
7.
The bystander effect, hyperbolic discounting, the sunk cost fallacy
8.
Preventing
9.
Imagining
and predicting multiple, complex outcomes and identifying actions
needed in the present to achieve desired outcomes in the future and acting on
them.
10.
The capacity to
plan to ensure a future outcome breaks down when large-scale collective action
is needed
11.
To avoid/ to circumvent/ prevent etc the bystander effect OR not to
succumb to the bystander effect
12.
The second, due to the social comparison effect
13.
Because of the endowment effect
14.
Humans are more
likely to change behaviour when challenges are framed positively, instead of
negatively
15.
Would encourage / because behavior change has been incentivized at a
local level
16.
We have evolved to innovate / we have evolved to have the communication
and technology to pass these innovations on
