(19:05 minutes long)
Naomi Klein spoke in December of last year (prior to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan) to a TED conference for women and posed what I thought was an interesting question: What makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble that we are unwilling to act now to deal with climate change?
It's true, it does seem to be part of the American psyche that somehow, things will get fixed at the last minute. Our pop culture references the defusing of the bomb with seconds to spare in all mediums. Even the most apocalyptic among us holds on to the notion of the last minute saving from destruction.
But nature doesn't work that way. There are no quick and easy solutions and the gamble we're taking waiting for one is only making that potential loss that much bigger. Klein moves into the gender differences in risk assessment and tolerance and while it resonates with me on a personal level, I don't know if it works on a national or global scale. Perhaps if there was more gender parity in leadership, we would be able to have a decent sampling from which to compare.
I see far more hubris and inertia in our response (or lack thereof) to global warming than I do addiction to risk, but Klein does present an interesting point of view that certainly makes me want to think more about it. Are we too addicted to risk to take measures to protect us from disaster? What do you think?
