When faced with a notion that challenges a belief or worldview, most people respond by rejecting the notion rather than questioning their belief. A habitual non-vegetarian, for example, never thinks of factory farms or poultry cages while eating chicken at the dinner table.
It is convenient that way. Keep enough distance in your mind and the world you do not like disappears. Sometimes alternative explanations, however implausible or silly, are invented to maintain this distance. Scientists say such behaviour is explained by cognitive dissonance – the discomfort one experiences when one holds two or more contradictory ideas at the same time. We actively try to reduce the situations that make us psychologically uncomfortable and avoid information which would increase the discomfort.
Cognitive dissonance is at the heart of humankind’s refusal to deal with climate change, both at an individual level and collectively. Each one of us who lives in urban India knows that at some level he or she is contributing to the problem yet we come up with a myriad excuses to abdicate responsibility like “Everyone else isn’t doing anything so why should I?” or “I don’t have time for this” or “The government must be doing something.”
I enjoyed eating meat at home when I was young. At seventeen I stopped. Since then I have never gone back. For some reason I could not cling to excuses that in my mind I knew were untrue. Perhaps it was my habit of tracing my stream of thoughts as a child that trained me to have visible thoughts. Psychologists tell us 95% of our thinking is invisible. That was never the case with me. I may not be immune to cognitive dissonance but denial is consciously checked.
When I watched a BBC Horizon documentary in mid-2006 on the scale and severity of global warming, it shook my belief system about my place in this world. It left me stunned and angry for days at my ignorance. Afterwards, I did not carry on with my life as it was. I engaged.
As a consultant who worked from home I was fortunate to have time. I started reading copiously about climate change. Like everyone else I thought “the solution” lay in simply switching to cleaner sources of energy (that it does not is another post) so I religiously started researching emerging technologies. The more I learned the more exciting it appeared. I started researching the issue full time.
I formed an online community of clean technology experts and professionals called Green India. The idea was to provide a platform of like-minded people engaged in professions that help address climate change. A group that started with energy efficiency professionals now has experts on every renewable energy technology, inventors, entrepreneurs, architects, researchers, and academia.
Conversations on Green-India range from technologies, policies, science, events, and sustainable living. Many of us have made changes to our own lifestyles and are helping individuals and corporations change. The moderated community is now richer, vibrant and going strong with hundreds of members.
When I started out eight years ago my aim was to figure out how long it would take for India to begin to meaningfully address climate. I have given talks at countless venues including IITs, engaged with policymakers, the public, corporates and civil society. My journey has constantly evolved as I sought answers to questions at the expense of personal gain.
Right from the beginning it was absolutely clear to me that addressing global warming will require transformative change. I invite everyone who keeps distance from the topic to truly engage with it and absorb its meaning and implications. It might leave you better prepared to face our common and uncertain future.
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