Foreign Affairs is always good, but I especially appreciated this March/April 2019 Issue. Below are a few tidbits.
From “This Is Your Brain on Nationalism. The Biology of Us and Them” by Robert Sapolsky (You have to read his Behave. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/09/behave-by-robert-sapolsky-review ):
“Sometimes the very foundation of affection and cooperation are also at the root of humankind’s darker impulses. Consider oxytocin, a compound whose reputation as a fuzzy ‘cuddle hormone’ has recently taken a bit of a hit. In mammals, oxytocin is central to mother-infant bonding and helps create close ties in monogamous couples. In humans, it promotes a whole set of pro-social behaviors. Subjects given oxytocin become more generous, trusting, empathic, and expressive. Yet recent findings suggest that oxytocin prompts people to act this way only toward in-group members–their teammates in a game, for instance. Toward outsiders, it make them aggressive and xenophobic. Hormones rarely affect behavior this way; the norm is an effect whose strength simply varies in different settings. Oxytocin, however. deepens the fault line in our brains between ‘us’ and ‘them.'”
“… The hipster beard, the turban, and the ‘Make America Great Again’ that all fulfill this role by sending strong signals of tribal belonging.”
From “Who’s Afraid of Budget Deficits? How Washington Should End Its Debt Obsession” by Jason Furman and Lawrence H. Summers:
“Policymakers will always know when the market is worried about the deficit. But no alarm bells ring when the government fails to rebuild decaying infrastructure, properly fund preschools, or provide access to health care. The results of that kind of neglect show up only later–but the human cost is often far larger. It’s time for Washington to put away its debt obsession and focus on bigger things.”*
[*Like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, ecology across curricula and campuses of all human organizational entities, and campaign finance reform! pbm]
From “Less Than Zero. Can Carbon-Removal Technologies Curb Climate Change?” by Fred Krupp, Nathaniel Keohane, and Eric Pooley:
“… Seven in ten Americans agree that global warming is happening, according to a 2018 study conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. About six in ten think it is mostly caused by human activity and is already changing the weather. Four in ten say they have personally experienced its impact. And seven in ten say the United States should enact measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, including prices and limits on carbon dioxide pollution, no matter what other countries do.
When is comes to generating support for climate policy, a warranted sense of alarm is only half the battle. And the other half–a shared belief that the problem is solvable–is lagging far behind. The newfound sense of urgency is at risk of being swamped by collective despair. A scant six percent of Americans, according to the Yale study, believe that the world ‘can and will’ effectively address climate change. With carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels having risen by an estimated 2.7 percent in 2018 and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, which will determine the ultimate extent of warming, at their highest level in some three million years, such pessimism may seem justified–especially with a climate change denier in the White House.”
7Ss / VV->^^
pbm
