Green Options

We’ve all done the elementary school math story problem: Would you rather have $10,000 right now, or a penny doubled every day for a month? Well, in the end, those of us who were greedy enough to take the $10,000 right up front ended up poorer than those who took the penny.

This problem seems silly to us though. Now what about this one. Would you rather take $1,000 right now or $4,000 three years from now? Chances are, you chose the immediate cash. Psychologists use the term ”delay discounting” to describe our inability to resist the temptation of a smaller immediate reward in lieu of receiving a larger reward later. Most people choose the smaller, more immediate reward over the larger “patience is a virtue” reward.

And no matter what the context, discounting stems from three factors: a bias for the present; uncertainty; and projected resources. We are a people who thrive on instant gratification; that’s one reason we love TV so much. It is also a contributing factor to the current economic crisis (and debt in general).

More and more people are showing up at their therapists these days with signs of what is called eco-anxiety, or fear concerning environmental issues. Santa Fe, NM therapist Melissa Pickett says this unrest has been growing in the last two years, and may be the tip of the iceberg.

Michael d’Estries wrote about Melissa in May, and I had the occasion to interview her recently about this issue, and the field of eco-psychology. [...]