Apathy, Optimism Bias, and Fossil of the Day

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 81

Apathy, Optimism Bias, and Fossil of the Day

From time to time we have all been apathetic about something. meaning we are simply indifferent to what is going on around us. If left unaddressed, apathy can lead to significant consequences in our lives. But sometimes we are even informed of those consequences and yet we do nothing. 

This is exactly how we are addressing climate change and living sustainably. We are simply apathetic for a number of reasons. Despite steady warnings from scientists regarding climate change, we are doing a sum total of nothing. Some believe this is because of optimism bias. 

If you want to hear more about our apathy, optimism bias and learn about fossil of the day, and how to defeat this attitude then stay tuned for E81.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E 81 which is called Apathy, Optimism Bias, and Fossil of the Day.  

Before we get started I would like to remind everyone that is you would like to contact me with questions, comments, or even suggestions regarding content, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. 

So, let’s get right down to todays topic, apathy, optimism bias, and fossil of the day. 

Have you ever noticed how people love to make excuses. I am sure at some point in time we have all had a co-worker that was constantly late and they always seemed to have the perfect excuse. Additionally I am sure that we’ve all known someone that was unemployed that sits around for months and they always have an excuse for making zero effort to find gainful employment. People make excuses for many things: not loosing weight, not exercising regularly, not eating better, not making sustainable, choices,  etc. 

We commonly hear things such as, “I’m not ready.”, “I don’t believe I can do it.”, “I will start tomorrow.” , “I’m not motivated.”, “I don’t have the right education.” 

But as far as living a more sustainable life, people often say something such as, “It’s too expensive.”, “I want to do more for the environment but my individual effort won’t make a difference.”, “It’s doesn’t fit into my lifestyle.”, “I don’t know where to start.”, “I am for reducing pollution but I am too busy to walk or ride my bike to work.”, “ I would stop eating beef but it tastes so good.”  

We hear a constant string of excuses for not living more sustainably when most climate scientists agree that we have about 12 years left before our climate is at the tipping point of no return. But despite knowing the facts and the urgency of the situation, why do we not take immediate action and do everything within our power to prevent this situation from worsening. 

Well, the underlying reason has to do with apathy. 

And the reason we exist in this state of apathy is that most of us still view climate change as a distant threat, temporally, geographically, and socially. This is why we continue not to act. We believe that the implications of climate change are so far in the future that it will not affect us. And truly, some parts of the world where climate change is taking a serious toll are so far away from us we see no reason to be concerned. 

Furthermore, we have this kind of ‘social distance’ from climate change because we think it will never affect someone like us. Scientist and psychologists refer to this attitude as optimism bias. Similarly, we assume that we are the ones that will never be involved in a bad car accident, never get divorced, never get cancer, or never be the unlucky person to be impacted by a natural disaster caused by climate change. 

The bottom line is that we temporally, geographically, and socially distance ourselves from climate change which accounts for our apathy. 

But there is an alternative explanation for our collective apathy. It is called the “free-rider effect.” The theory behind this is that the larger the group of people, the less overall effort an individual will put toward a common cause because they see themselves as dispensable. The problem with this is that people begin to believe that their personal actions will not make a difference and they become apathetic. 

Now I actually talked about this a little bit in my episode on performative environmentalism. I discussed how big industry and big oil are to blame for many of the environmental changes. Just 20 of them are responsible for 35% of global emissions. The impact that we have as individuals is almost nothing compared to industry. For example, one household going car free, flight free, or even going vegan many save 4 tons of emissions per year. But the world needs to slash tens of billions of tons annually. This type of change requires government investment and strong regulations.

But while one individual may not make a big difference, the true power is in collective action. Individuals acting collectively will shift mores and norms, change consumer culture, curb emissions, and make drastic political change more likely. If only one percent of us takes action then that could actually result in changing our culture. That is where the true power lies, collective action.

But, because I said that individual action has little impact, you cannot throw up your hands and say what difference does it make then? That is at best a fragile excuse for not doing your part. Furthermore you run the risk of promoting dangerously misleading ideas to all the people around you. By doing so you are being apathetic and underestimating the power of the collective. 

That said, I will be the first to admit that I too get discouraged. Just the other day I was participating in a potluck luncheon at work. Out of 30 people I was the only one that had a plate and utensils that were not disposable. Everyone else was using paper plates, plastic cups, and plastic utensils.  I just smile and say “Hey I am using my camping utensils so I don’t have to use things that are disposable.  Along the same line, someone ask me the other day why I carried a cloth towel in my pocket all the time. I explained that because of what I do I wash my hands 30 to 40 times a day. Doing this keeps me from using 40 paper towels a day because sooner or later our planet is not going to have any trees.  

But this is what you have to do. Make a statement, be the example, make people think. 

Another common excuse that people give is that climate change is such an enormous problem that it must be tackled by government and big corporations in order to prevent global warming. Furthermore it is just not within our individual power to solve climate change.

On one hand this is a valid statement. One individual cannot tackle climate change. It has to be a collective effort involving the entire global community. However, you also have to understand that our strong consumerist society is one of the main barriers that prevents this very thing from happening. 

But using the fact that one individual lacks the power to make a substantial different is a lame excuse for not making sustainable choices. If you go back and listen to E18 Choices Make Changes, you will see that our consumer choices are in fact the primary driver of the market place. This can easily be seen in the supermarket these days. More and more people are wanting alternative, sustainable choices other than beef. Consequently, you can easily find these products in the meat section. Just a few years ago these types of products were non-existent or you could only find them in expensive specialty markets. 

The bottom line here is that we can no longer afford to languish in our apathy. This planet will likely be destroyed if we waste our time sitting back and waiting for policy changes. This sort of political atmosphere should actually galvanize our resolve to do something. After all, it only took one teenager to get the attention of the entire global community regarding climate action.  

What you have to realize is that we are in a crisis of our own making. You would think this would get our attention. Instead so many people still have the attitude that changing their own behavior doesn’t matter anyway. Yet according to a United Nations climate report, the last eight years were the warmest in history. We are on track to go beyond the climate tipping point by the year 2040. Ocean warming and acidification is directly responsible for an alarming rate of species loss. The Great Pacific Garbage patch, which floats between Hawaii and California, is now three times the size of France and estimated to weigh 80,000 tons. 

All of this is the result of decades of environmental indifference. Furthermore,  scientists have been investigating, discussing and warning about climate change for 125 years and we have done essentially nothing that truly matters. 

We literally have to break this paralyzing inertia that grips our culture. We can no longer have this defeatist attitude of “we are all going to die anyway so I’m going out for a burger.”

The thing you have to come to grips with is that no matter what we do at this point we are going to have to make sacrifices. But that is the thing that no one wants to hear about. In fact, whenever any forward thinking politician puts a new climate or environmental regulation in effect that may actually have a long term benefit, their ratings almost immediately go down because it cost us something. But in my opinion, this is just another display of our short-sighted apathetic attitude.   

Take for example what happened with our lives during the recent COVID 19 pandemic. Changes were forced upon us and our lives were turned upside down in a matter of weeks. We were forced to make sudden changes in our lives and we had no choice.  The same type of thing is going to happen to all of us if we do not start living sustainably. Yet most of us continue to be apathetic. But in order to understand our apathetic behavior, you have to at least understand a few things about human psychology. Climate change is the kind of disaster that our minds are not equipped to deal with. It seems far away, in the future, mostly likely happening to other people. Our optimism bias is taking over because on a personal level we somehow believe this could not possibly happen to us.

I have to say that I am almost embarrassed to admit that I first starting hearing about climate change when I was a teenager. I thought to myself that it was something interesting but I also thought that surely I would never see the result of that in my lifetime. So there you go. I am also guilty of optimism bias that I would like to think I am over at this point. 

But I also think we turn a blind eye to things because of what I refer to as  “distance phenomenon”.  It is easy for all of us to be angry when a crime has an obvious victim. Some guy walks into a mall and shoots several people and is immediately caught by the police. That type of crime has visible victims and a very visible villian. But when fossil fuel emissions all go into the same global atmosphere it is nearly impossible to view all of humanity as a victim because we do not see the immediate harm that has been done. To some degree we have to look at the science and maybe even trust the government. I know this is difficult especially when most polls these days reveal that two thirds of the population have lost faith in the government.

Yet over the last couple of years we have all witnessed the devastating effects of climate change. Extreme heat, increased frequency of hurricanes, polar temperatures 70 degrees warmer than normal, collapse of polar ice shelves, worsening forest fires, devastating floods that haven’t occurred in over a thousand years. This should be enough to convince us that the science is valid.

So at this point in this episode, I think it is a good time to introduce what is called the Fossil of the Day. This somewhat of a satirical award but it serves a good function. It it sort of like public shaming. Now perhaps some of you think that shaming is somewhat of an outdated mode of achieving results but there are times when public shaming has been used successfully. 

For example, shaming encourages adherence to beneficial social norms. So it can be a good way to prevent bad or inappropriate behavior. It can also be used to bring about positive changes. For example, a grade school kid posts pictures on a blog about their abysmal school lunches which cause the local counsel to step in. Another example, someone finds serious security problems in software that a company uses and they will not correct it so they go public which of course garners enough attention to make them do something about it. This is similar to the Fossil Award. 

The Fossil Award is a dishonorable “award” given to countries deemed unwilling to take climate action during the United Nations Climate Change Conference. This award is chosen by the Climate Action Network, which is a global network of nongovernmental organizations that are engaged in environmental conservation efforts. It is a “public shaming” of sorts except on an international level. 

Now if you happen to get the Fossil of the Year Award five years in a row, then you are given the Colossal Fossil Award, which was recently awarded to Canada. Japan has also been moving forward with the construction of coal fired power plants while other countries such as Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland are on track to completely phase our the use of coal.         

Fossil simply refers to the burning of fossil fuels which contributes to global warming.  The purpose of this satirical award is to bring the view of citizens to the forefront and the aim is to pressure each country’s government to move in a more positive direction for climate change negotiations. Major coal exporters such as Canada and Australia, and oil producing countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia are frequently winners of the award. 

Personally, I think it would be nice to have such an activity in local communities as well. It would quickly bring environmental issues to the forefront. If more of us realize the predicament that we are in perhaps we would be motivated to change. 

The simple truth is that all of the sweeping changes that need to be made will be dependent on changing how all of us live day to day. 

It is easy to loose motivation when you think others are not pulling their weight. But we must persist in getting people to cut down on the things they enjoy for the sake of climate change. We can no longer make excuses. Most studies reveal that about 75% of the people are worried about climate change yet less than 1/3 of them would be willing to pay higher taxes in order to make something happen. I realize this is a really big goal and is asking a lot. But bear with me for a moment. 

The best way to accomplish a really big goal is one step at a time. It often involves some sort of sacrifice. For example, if achieving an advanced degree is important to you, that will be accomplished by going back to school, maybe moving to another location, giving up your current job for a different one that is better suited to your goals. It may start with night school and then day time classes. It may take years of effort to accomplish what you want. But all the while you keep your eyes on your goal, you focus on the future, keeping in mind the end result. 

All the while the end result may seem far away and impossible for you but you keep at it because the end result justifies the means. As the famous Nelson Mandela once said, “It seems impossible until it’s done.” 

The same holds true for our action on climate change. It is so easy for us to fall into what is called current moment bias. This is where we have a difficult time imagining ourselves in the future and altering our expectations and behaviors accordingly. This is one of the reasons that people seek instant gratification first and short-term discomfort later. But what you must realize is that our own psychological deficiencies when considering environmental consequences will result of ultimate devastation. But I did address this issue to a great degree in E75 Can We Change Human Instincts? 

So at this point let’s take a couple of minutes to sum up what I have discussed. 

-Most people are good at making excuses about lots of things especially when it comes to sustainable living. 

-The reason we are not doing everything within our power to avert a climate change disaster is because of our apathy. 

-We are apathetic because we distance ourselves temporarily, geographically, and socially. 

-Furthermore our judgement is clouded because of our optimisms bias. We assume we are never going to be the unlucky person to get involved in a car accident, get divorced, get cancer, or be impacted significantly due to climate change. 

-When it comes to big issues such as climate change, most of us feel helpless to do anything. We feel dispensable and that our individual action means nothing. However, this is a lame excuse because we forget about the power of the collective. 

-You have to accept the fact that we are in a crisis of our own making and this is the result of decades of environmental indifference. In order to correct this, we are all going to have to make some sacrifices. But it is a far better choice to slowly make simple changes in our lives as opposed to having things forced upon us as happened with the pandemic. 

-We can no longer look at climate changes as victimless crime. It is easy to look at a robbery and say that is the villain and this is the victim. But we are all the villains when is comes to our environment if we do not take action.

It is my personal opinion is that we can no longer make lame excuses and sit back and do nothing. As one of my former employers said to me years ago, “You had better decide what you want for your future before someone decides it for you.” 

I do realize that all the changes and things we see going on in our world is enough to make the most sane minded person feel some sense of insecurity. But what you must also realize is that the future has still not been decided. It is undeniable at this point that climate change is happening and it will affect all of us. Even NASA made the statement that climate change is happening now, and will continue to happen in the years to come and is irreversible in the time frame of people alive today. But that cannot be used as an excuse to do nothing. We must take individual action and that action must be scaled up into the power of the collective. 

So, stop making excuses. Reduce your meat and dairy consumption sooner than later. Stop driving your car or taking an Uber for short trips. Ride your bike instead. Not only that, talk about it to other people. Get your mother involved, your sister, brother, your friends, your grandparents, your neighbors. Because without them we are never going to turn this collective apathy into collective power for positive change. 

Your challenge for this week is to find ways in your own life where you are apathetic and then make a commitment to change that. Find ways where your optimism bias has crept into your life and fix it. Because if you don’t, before you know it you may be getting the prestigious Fossil of the Day Award. 

As I am closing out this episode, I would like to ask that if you enjoy the content I produce, then please take the time to leave me with a review as well as subscribe to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast as well as my companion blog Off Grid Living News. Also, if you have questions, comments, or even suggestions about content, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. 

Now, I would like to conclude this episode with a quote Elon Musk, “We’re running the most dangerous experiment in history right now, which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere ….can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe.”

Just remember folks that we are in a crisis of our own making. But the future has not yet been decided.  

This is your host Patrick signing off until next week. Always remember to live sustainable because this is how we build a better future.  

Patrick