Tag: environment

We resolve to do more

Posted on by kathiemm

Monday, October 24, 2011, was United Nations Day.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Image used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

“UN Day is a day on which we resolve to do more. More to protect those caught up in armed conflict, to fight climate change and avert nuclear catastrophe; more to expand opportunities for women and girls, and to combat injustice and impunity; more to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message on UN Day, 24 October 2011

The Millennium Development Goals established in 2010 with an achievement goal of 2015, are: 1) end poverty and hunger; 2) achieve universal education; 3) promote gender equality and empower woman; 4) reduce child mortality; 5) improve maternal health; 6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; 7) ensure environmental sustainability, and 8) develop a global partnership for economic development.

None of these goals have been achieved yet in the United States. In what ways has involvement in wars interfered with achieving those basic goals in this relatively rich nation? In what ways is it in the interest of Americans to work towards these goals, not just at home but around the world?

As always, the question is, how can one individual make a difference? In an earlier post, Alan O’Hare discussed the importance of sharing stories.  In response to the fact that the world population is about to reach 7 billion, the UN Population Fund has undertaken an initiative called 7 Billion Actions, gathering the stories of individuals and organizations around the world striving to make a positive difference in the world.

And for a wonderful fictional film on one individual fighting to make a difference, watch this excerpt from the film “The Girl in the Café”:

 

Violent behavior in context: Tucson and beyond

Posted on by kathiemm

Jared Lee Loughner, caught at the scene of the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of six other people, has been repeatedly described as crazy, a nutbag, disturbed, and mentally ill—labels that put the blame for the violence on him as another “sole gunman” who has committed a heinous act.

Gabrielle Giffords shooting scene
Tucson shooting scene. (Photo by Steve Karp, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported. From Wikimedia Commons

But heinous acts take place within contexts, and Loughner grew up within contexts where the spreading of hate and calls for violence against various groups have become rampant.

To understand fully the factors that contributed to the violence in Tucson and similar incidents, one must do an ecological analysis.

As described in our post on August 23, 2010, an ecological analysis assumes that the character and behavior of adult humans are shaped by forces at different levels:

  • The individual level (e.g., genetic predispositions, brain functioning)
  • The microsystem level (primarily the family)
  • The exosystem (e.g., the neighborhood)
  • The macrosystem (broad cultural values and mores)

Also important is the chronosystem, which focuses on changes in the individual’s environments over time that may affect his or her development.

In today’s post and the following ones, we examine how factors at each level could have contributed to Jared Lee Loughner’s attack on Congresswoman Giffords and others.

At the individual level, there is considerable evidence that Loughner may suffer from some sort of mental illness. There are also many reports that he abused drugs. Far too many people suffer from severe psychological symptoms, and far too many abuse drugs, but the vast majority of these people do not try to kill other human beings.

What other factors may have contributed to Loughner’s deadly behavior? We will return to this question in our next two posts.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Misrepresenting or minimizing consequences (Moral disengagement, part 6)

Posted on by kathiemm

Misrepresenting or minimizing consequences is another moral disengagement mechanism.

Psychologist Albert Bandura notes that when people commit atrocities for personal gain or as a response to social pressure, one way to offset shame and guilt is to minimize or distort the ill-effects of their behavior.

During contemporary warfare by the developed nations, this process is facilitated by modern technology, which allows maiming and killing from high in the air–thus avoiding the sight of blood, guts, and dismembered bodies; the screams of pain, pleas for help; and victims begging for an end to their ordeal.

It has been noted that the Pulitzer-prize winning photograph of the naked Vietnamese girl running from her napalmed village played a pivotal role in turning the American public against the Vietnam War.

To avoid a repetition of that kind of public disavowal of their political and military aims, more recent governments have exercised extreme control over media portrayals of wartime events.

Misrepresenting and minimizing consequences is rampant in relation to the environmental consequences of war. Among the long-lasting effects of war that are minimized right out of people’s consciousness are:

  • Sunken ships that continue to pollute the oceans
  • Landmines that continue to maim and kill
  • Hazardous waste from the manufacturing of weapons
  • Destruction and pollution of wildlife and human habitat through use of herbicidal weapons such as Agent Orange
  • Environmental degradation from the thousands of refugees fleeing the armed conflict.

(For more about environmental consequences of war, see the report of the Environmental Literacy Council.)

In reaction to the minimizing, misrepresenting, and denial of the environmental effects of war, the United Nations, in 2001, declared November 6 to be  International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Note: This post was adapted from my previously published article in Peace Psychology (a publication of the American Psychological Association), Spring, 2009.