We’re built pretty well: put your hand over an open flame and you’ll jerk it away in a few milliseconds. For this to happen, the nerves in your hand have to feel the heat and send a warning signal to your brain which then sends a series of commands to all the muscles that control the position of your hand – and you move it.
But we’re not yet fully wired to deal with more diffuse and slow burning threats. For example, global warming. For one, we can’t feel it (and when we do feel it, it will not feel like heat but rather higher prices, political instability, mass migrations, etc.) Second, we’re still not very good at sending signals to coordinate the movements of an entire economy. (Though we’re getting better at it.)
Steev Hise picks up where Elizabeth Kolbert leaves off and asks when effective action – rather than stunts – will begin to avert the certain catastrophe of global warming. My guess is that it begins by rerouting the signal paths that drive our economy.
If we are unable to feel the stick until it’s too late, let’s start using carrots.