Cognition

I’ve been reading “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” recently. Great book, on a topic that I’m personally passionate about (the corporate manipulation of developing nations for political and economic gain). I’ll probably recommend it to a bunch of friends. And then what?

The sad fact is, we’re hardwired to deal with emergencies. We’re biologically programmed to run from tigers. But when it comes to slow-moving, inexorably advancing walls of ice (like heart disease, greenhouse gases or even obesity), we’re basically useless.

Why? Because they don’t have a face.

It’s true. Even wars need to be personified. As individuals, and as a mob, we treat threats with a face (terrorism, muggings) as way more serious than those without (car accidents, poverty, environmental issues) – regardless of the real numbers. As an example, cited from the book I mention above, the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11th killed around 3,000 people. Another 24,000 people died that day from starvation – and every day before, or since. But starvation has no face.

Recruitment has done well with a face, too. Remember good ‘ol “Uncle Sam needs YOU”? Possibly the most successful propaganda campaign EVER run by any government anywhere, and it was simple personification of military recruitment, as a stern but friendly family member.

So we need a face for Carbon – and no, I’m not suggesting we single out any particular political, special-interest-group or petroleum multinational for this visage; something more along the lines of Uncle Sam. But an evil, twisted, half-relative with social problems – the crazy, knife-wielding brother of Aunt Betty. He needs to be committed – for his own safety, as well as ours.

Maybe we could borrow some terror from 50 years of Hollywood, and name him Carbon Krueger.

If we give him a face, then people can compare him with other threats (dictators, both at home and abroad), and decide how to prioritize.

So here’s my stab – tag photos CarbonKrueger if you think they’re a good candidate. Tag bookmarks CarbonKrueger if you think they help personalize and personify the impacts of Carbon. Use #CarbonKrueger on twitter for your discussions. I’m going to add a Google News Alert, and watch how this works. (I’ve never done the blog-meme thing before, but let’s give it a try.)