MIT Professor: We Ended the Slave Trade, We Can End Fossil Fuel Use

March 22, 2013 by Ellie Johnston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9lR9jQdBS0

In this interview Climate Interactive team member and MIT Professor John Sterman describes how slavery was once an integral source of energy for our society and yet we realized how wrong it was and stopped.  John is optimistic that we will come to the same conclusions about the damaging energy sources we are dependent on today.

He explains his research, which shows that people are often so overwhelmed by the scope of climate change and the feeling they can’t do anything about it that they become cognitively dissonant. He explains that we can take steps to help people reorient their thinking about climate change, like reminding people that throughout history people have been able to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges, like ending slavery.

Check out the video interview from the Australian School of Business above or visit their website for the full transcript or audio.