Per Espen Stoknes is a psychologist and an economist. An
entrepreneur, he has cofounded clean-energy companies, and
he spearheads the BI Norwegian Business School’s executive
program on green growth. He has previously worked both as a
clinical and organizational psychologist and as an advisor in
scenario planning to a wide range of major national and
international businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit
institutions. His research interests include climate and
environmental strategies, economic psychology, and
energy systems. Teaching areas include green growth,
foresight and corporate strategy, behavioral economics and
expressive arts. He has written three books,
including Money and Soul. He lives in Oslo,
Norway.
Jorgen Randers is professor of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian
Business School, where he works on climate issues and scenario
analysis. He was previously president of BI and deputy director
general of WWF International (World Wildlife Fund) in Switzerland.
He lectures internationally on sustainable development and
especially climate, and is a nonexecutive member of a number of
corporate boards. He sits on the sustainability councils of British
Telecom in the UK and the Dow Chemical Company in the United
States. In 2006 he chaired the cabinet-appointed Commission on Low
Greenhouse Gas Emissions, which reported on how Norway can cut its
climate gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050. Randers has written
numerous books and scientific papers, and was coauthor of The
Limits to Growth in 1972, Beyond the Limits in 1992, Limits to
Growth: The 30-Year Update in 2004, and 2052: A Global Forecast for
the Next Forty Years in 2011. Randers lives in Oslo,
Norway.
Choice, , winner, Outstanding Academic Title 2015-
"Stoknes (a psychologist, economist, and entrepreneur based in
Norway) does not explain climate change. Rather,
he illuminates barriers that prevent solving problems caused
by increasing global temperatures while simultaneously giving
a clear strategy to overcome these hurdles. The book's three
parts—'Thinking: Understanding the Climate Paradox,' 'Doing: If It
Doesn't Work, Do Something Else,’ 'Being: Inside the Living
Air'—examine how people think about climate, what individuals can
do to affect climate, and how one relates to environment. Each is
well researched and insightful and offers powerful proposals.
Stoknes explains why so many people have laissez-faire attitudes to
dire predictions from the scientific community, and he reveals
tactics employed by those wishing to conduct business as usual. He
poses a clear blueprint for new ways to engage in global climate
discussions. This reviewer notices that many journalists are
adopting Stoknes’ designs—evidently his ideas are becoming
mainstream. Although he successfully addresses the climate issue,
it is clear that Stoknes has something bigger in mind as he
expertly describes contemporary human relationships with the
natural world and offers hope for a revitalized ecological
link. This book will initiate a paradigm shift in thinking
about and discussing climate change. Read it soon. Summing Up:
Essential. All readers.”
Library Journal- "Norwegian psychologist and economist Stoknes
(Money and Soul) has produced a work about the psychological
effects of global warming messages. While accepting dire facts and
projections put forth by scientists, the author argues that their
usual type of presentation is counterproductive. Providing
audiences with abstract but scary information requiring sacrifice
has produced apathy and denial among citizens of wealthy nations,
the author says. Stoknes notes that there are social barriers
against discussing the situation, and it can be politically
divisive. However, ethics require all of us to find valid ways to
combat climate disruption, he states, adding that we need to
harness ancestral human drives to this task. Messaging needs to be
simple, positive, and social to lead to mass behavioral change. The
author commends movements such as Transition Town, which promotes
community resilience and explains that the many inspiring stories
about green innovation can help shift public attitudes over time.
VERDICT: Stoknes has done a service for readers alarmed or
concerned about global warming. He provides helpful strategies for
accepting and dealing with their own reactions to the evidence,
reducing carbon footprints, and influencing others to do
likewise.”
Publishers Weekly- Stoknes (Money and Soul), a Norwegian
psychologist and economist, addresses the polarized American debate
over anthropogenic climate change, observing how it has devolved
into 'a deteriorating and desperate spiral.' In this earnest and
well-organized volume, he introduces a new aspect to the
discussion, focusing not on the phenomenon’s causes or
consequences, but people’s responses to it, including how they
think, what they do, and how they live in the world. Stoknes puts a
cognitive-psychological spin on the matter at hand and
differentiates among climate 'skeptics,' ‘contrarians,' and
'deniers,' distinguishing active and passive forms of denial. He
also looks at evolutionary self-interest and the ways in which
people can use social networks to further their goals. People like
to believe their actions matter, he notes, and a solution is more
likely to be implemented 'when people want it, like it, love it,'
not when they are guilted or shamed into it. The more people 'see
happy others conserve energy ... the more they are inclined to
support ambitious climate policies on local, state, and national
levels.' Framing the argument in this manner, Stoknes effectively
combines talk of social psychology with environmental
activism.”
"Stoknes offers expert insights, drawn from the discipline of
psychology and the art of storytelling, to the
high-stakes quandary of our time: Why the response to climate
change has not, yet, come close to matching the overwhelming
magnitude and sophistication of the scientific evidence. He peels
away the multiple layers of passivity-inducing narratives, and
demonstrates how avoiding climate caricatures—apocalypse on one
hand, ecotopia on the other—is the most effective way to prompt
action. His alternative narratives, highlighting the many
co-benefits of a switch away from fossil fuels, suggest a broad
common ground across the ideological spectrum.”--Mark Schapiro,
author of Carbon Shock: A Tale of Risk and Calculus on the Front
Lines of a Disrupted Global Economy
"Science is no longer the bottleneck to action on climate change.
Why do we so often ignore, deny, and resist the science? Why aren’t
we outraged, demanding change? In a style both rigorous and
personal, Per Espen Stoknes explains why, and more importantly,
offers strategies for success. A pleasure to read, this book can
help us all become more understanding, more committed, more
effective—and, along the way, more joyful."--John Sterman,
professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, and author
of Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a
Complex World
"Mahatma Gandhi said 'First they ignore you, then they laugh
at you, then they fight you, then you win.' We’re in this last
phase but to win we need to change tactics, from using guilt to
draw attention to instead using persuasion to change behavior and
policy at a mass scale. Per Espen Stoknes shows the way with this
brilliant description of how to go with rather
than against the flow of human nature and thus shift
society to action. There is no more important challenge facing
society today and Stoknes's contribution is crucial.”--Paul
Gilding, author of The Great Disruption
"How, most effectively, to communicate the reality and
ramifications of a slow-motion planetary meltdown? Whether you are
a scientist or a CEO, an activist or a slacker, this book provides
a simple toolkit for breaking down frozen attitudes. As a work that
surveys a great deal of psychological research, it's at once
accessible, practical, and – in its last third – richly reflective
and evocative. In these concluding chapters Stoknes wrestles
eloquently with the ways in which earthly calamity reverberates and
sometimes wreaks havoc in any person’s innermost sense of self and
meaning."--David Abram, author of The Spell of the
Sensuous
"In a fresh and intimate voice Per Espen Stoknes navigates the
obstacles and collective denial of climate change. Drawing on
his own deep love of nature he suggests ways to overcome our ‘Deep
Grief’ by creating a spiritual connection with the air around us.
In every way this is a book full of new perspectives and
insights."--George Marshall, author of Don't Even Think About It:
Why Our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
"Combining an entrepreneur’s innovation with an economist’s
analytics and a psychologist’s knowledge of human behavior, Per
Espen Stoknes gives us a much-needed guide to moving beyond the
politics and paralysis that generally cripple action on climate
change, and provides us with concrete ways to inspire grounded hope
for real climate solutions”--Heidi Cullen, chief scientist, Climate
Central
"The human brain is poorly equipped to cope with mind-numbing
problems like climate change. Per Espen Stoknes tell us
why—and then explains what we can do to change the way we think,
act, and live. Highly recommended."--John Elkington, cofounder of
Volans, SustainAbility, and Environmental Data Services (ENDS), and
coauthor of The Breakthrough Challenge
"If information enlightened, then effective climate
policies would have been put in place two decades ago, after
the second IPCC assessment. The recent, massive fifth assessment
enlightens only a teeny bit more. Stoknes’ small, powerful,
readable book enables us to build the social networks that
will lead to action and change our old stories, the blinders
that comfort so many along our path to destruction. Read it, get to
work, and find joy in being effective."--Richard B. Norgaard,
coauthor of The Climate Challenge Society and professor
emeritus, University of California at Berkeley
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