Global Warming Deniers Dominated by Reptile Brain? Or Is It Bird Brain?

Nicholas D. Kristof reports:

If you come across a garter snake, nearly all of your brain will light up with activity as you process the “threat.” Yet if somebody tells you that carbon emissions will eventually destroy Earth as we know it, only the small part of the brain that focuses on the future — a portion of the prefrontal cortex — will glimmer.

“We humans do strange things, perhaps because vestiges of our ancient brain still guide us in the modern world,” notes Paul Slovic, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and author of a book on how our minds assess risks.

link: Op-Ed Columnist - When Our Brains Short-Circuit - NYTimes.com