this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
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Climate Change

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Originally posted here but was locked without explanation. Cross-posted in !climate_lm@slrpnk.net to escape narrative-control-driven muzzling, in case anyone wants to comment further.


Most people are unwilling to change their lifestyle significantly in the face of climate catastrophe. In particular:

  • refusal to alter their diet
  • refusal to ditch their car

Even the idea of simply stopping livestock subsidies is fiercely fought because people would still consider an absence of intervention to be lifestyle intereference. People are hostile toward the idea of changing their commuting and teleworking habits. In the democratic stronghold in California, even democrats voted out a democrat who tried to impose a fuel tax because they are resistant to giving up their car. Examples are endless.

the dominant excuse→ “carbon footprint is a BP invention”

The high-level abstract principle that underpins resistance to taking individual actions is the idea that because the “carbon footprint” was coined by BP in an effort to shift blame, people think (irrationally) that the wise counter move is to not take individual action. Of course this broken logic gives the oil companies exactly what they want: inaction. This has become the dominant excuse people use for not changing their lifestyle.

psilocybin

The deep psychology surrounding the problem is cognitive rigidity-- unwillingness of people to adjust their lifestyles. So how do you make people more open-minded and increase their psychological flexibility? One mechanism is psilocybin, which has been shown induce neuroplasticity and free people from stubborn thinking. It’s a long article but the relevant bit is this:

(click to expand)The effects of mindfulness training and psychedelic intervention on psychological flexibility

Mindfulness practices encourage individuals to respond to all kinds of experiences, whether positive or negative, without judgment and with openness which fosters psychological flexibility [90]. This acceptance aligns with psychological flexibility's core components, enabling individuals to act by their values even in the presence of challenging emotions [79, [91]. Psychedelics, on the other hand, can lead to profound insights into personal values, and in this way enhance psychological flexibility [92].

Both methods encourage individuals to embrace uncertainty and change, a fundamental aspect of psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility involves moving beyond limitations imposed by thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness training teaches individuals to observe their thoughts without attachment, reducing cognitive rigidity. Psychedelics often induce experiences that challenge pre-existing beliefs, allowing individuals to transcend the constraining influence of self-concepts and through this way promote adaptability and open-mindedness [3, 38]. Both offer avenues to increased psychological flexibility by fostering acceptance, values alignment, embracing uncertainty, and challenging ego boundaries. Integrating mindfulness skills and psychedelic insights holds promise for sustained psychological flexibility by facilitating a balanced response to internal and external stimuli, and adaptive responses to life's challenges [93].


Other studies have shown increased neuroplasticity through meditation. In any case, we could use a less stubborn population.

Not just for climate, but consider the pandemic where conservatives (by definition the champions of stubbornness) refused to make even the slightest lifestyle change and fought every act of remediation. A population with a higher degree of psychological flexibility would be better to react to changes of any kind.

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[–] MercurySunrise 2 points 6 months ago

Stubbornness is a serious obstacle, both individually and societally. I entirely agree with changing our agriculture and chemical paradigms. The standard we currently have is murdering the world. Psychedelics, specifically psilocybin, is an important part of not only humanity but the earth itself. I personally don't like cars and I never have. I've always tried to find ways to avoid them, I need the exercise anyway haha. I'm working on moving to a greener and self-grown diet, because it's definitely healthier and tastier than the shit I'm buying at the supermarkets. I feel I've been fairly lucky to be able to make these changes. So much of the system does everything it can to make it difficult for people who want to change to a more sustainable and caring model. I decided when I was in school, planning on a psychiatry degree, that the most effective way to heal minds (plural) isn't to change the individual, but to change the structure the individual is in. Sure you can fight symptoms, but until you address the cause of why people are hurting, the hurt will continue. I since have had a bigger focus on alternative sociology, which I feel psychedelic support is a part of. I think alot of stubbornness comes from lack of information. People can't see what's good because the system doesn't want them to. Thanks for posting this.