Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 27 No. 1, 2012.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Environmental Denial: Why We Fail to Change Our Environmentally Damaging Practices
Tomaž Grušovnik
; University of Primorska, Scientific and Research Centre of Koper, Koper, Slovenia
Sažetak
Despite readily available facts and figures regarding human-caused natural degradation, a large portion of the public still refuses to believe that the environment is suffering because of our actions. This refusal to believe, paired with a lack of environmental motivation, has become so evident that it recently attracted the attention of scientists and psychologists attempting to account for it from various perspectives. The disbelief in, for instance, climate change, is hard to explain without referring to a mechanism best described as “environmental denial”. Analysis shows that people may be prone to deny anthropogenic environmental damage because their personal identity, as well as the quest for meaning in their lives, depends upon a consumerist modus vivendi. Consciously or unconsciously faced with the dilemma of either accepting that this lifestyle endangers the life of the planet (as well as their and their children’s well-being), and thus accepting its consequences and the responsibility for change, or refusing to believe that the environmental degradation is occurring in the first place, they choose the latter option. This choice is also motivated by the lack of sound alternatives around which new, “greener” identities could be built. Thus any attempt at changing public opinion regarding anthropogenic environmental degradation, as well as any strategy that advocates putting an abrupt end to our environmentally damaging practices, is not likely to be successful if it neglects to provide new footing for identity building.
Ključne riječi
environmental denial; social ecology; psychology of consumer behaviour; Erich Fromm
Hrčak ID:
94707
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.10.2012.
Posjeta: 2.887 *