Psychological temperaments help explain why City of Powell River Council voted against suing Big Oil [“Big oil lawsuit not supported by City of Powell River Council,” March 8]. They have been observed since Plato, 2500 years ago.
A temperament is a psychological predisposition you are born with that affects how you see things. There are four. Using Plato’s names, guardians (50 per cent of everybody) and artisans (40 per cent) are most common. Idealists (five per cent) and rationals (five per cent) are least common.
Rationals are half of all the climate scientists. They are very long term in their thinking and concerns, and very objective. They will tell it like it is even if it upsets people.
Idealists are another third of climate scientists. They are good at communication so when they tell it like it is, they sugarcoat it to make it more acceptable. Altogether, rationals and idealists are 85 per cent of scientists.
Guardians are the biggest group of everybody and 15 per cent of scientists. They are focused on solutions that have worked in the past, and very respectful of authority. If governments or big oil companies tell them that burning oil is not a problem, guardians will likely believe them.
Artisans are mainly focused on the present. If scientists tell them climate change is going to destroy the world by the year 2100, that’s so long from now and hardly their concern. They believe scientists will fix things eventually and by 2100 there’ll be no problem.
That’s what 90 per cent of people likely think, and also 90 per cent of their elected officials. In this case, it is five of our seven council members.
When artisans wake up to the problem of climate change, world temperatures will be a lot hotter. When guardians see the old solutions aren’t working and politicians don’t know any better than them, it’ll be too late for fixing the problem, and they’ll need to make a leap of faith to elect new leaders.
So we at Sue Big Oil will have to keep trying! Maybe some of us need to run for council to support Rob Southcott and Trina Isakson, the only ones who already see the dying canary. Better early than too late.
Neil Remington Abramson
Brunswick Avenue
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