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The Psychology of Climate Change Inaction
3 cognitive biases that impact our climate action and how to overcome them
Our brains are wired to react quickly to emergencies. This is a good thing when it comes to avoiding danger, but it can be a problem regarding climate change. We evolved in an environment where the most significant threat was short-term disasters like floods and fires. Our brains are still reacting as if those dangers are the biggest threat, even though long-term
climate change is a much more significant danger. That’s why we need to find ways to get our brains involved in climate action. We need to
show people that taking action on climate change will make their lives better, not just safer. Several evolutionary cognitive biases can impact our brain health and ability to prevent climate change. However, overcoming these biases can improve our brain health and prepare us to combat climate change.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
One such bias is the sunk cost fallacy — the tendency to continue investing in something as long as we have invested so much in it already. This might include money, time, or effort. This often causes us to make irrational decisions, such as continuing with a losing investment or staying in a bad relationship. However…
