GREG POWELL, 25 MAR 2010

Greg Powell is the project coordinator for Alberta Acts on Climate Change and wonders how his identity-based decisions affect his behaviour

I left a talk by Gwynn Dyer earlier this month feeling hopeless, afraid and powerless. Despite the increasing evidence that human-caused global warming may cause major international conflict in the not-so-distant future, Canadians seem increasingly inclined to ignore the science. I wondered how ignoring climate science could be in our best interest but soon realized that we don't act according to our best interest; we act according to our identities.

The same answer applies to two other seemingly unrelated, but equally perplexing, questions:

1. Why do people vote against their own interests (e.g., low-wage earners advocating against a single-payer health system in the U.S.)?
2. Why do Albertans repeatedly elect a government that doesn't actually represent their new values?

The common answer is about identity. People behave according to how they indentify themselves, not according to what is in their best interest. If I see myself as a member of a certain community or as someone who behaves or votes a certain way, I will choose behaviours based on that identity over behaviours that benefit society and myself.

The campaign against passing the health bill in the U.S. demonstrated the pros and cons of a public health care system are largely irrelevant; whether someone saw him or herself as the kind of person who would support a single-payer system determined whether he or she would support the idea. I assume that Republicans get sick equally as often as Democrats and incomes are generally comparable. However, those who identify as Republican are far less likely to support U.S. health care reform than those who identify as Democrat. Toeing partisan lines is similarly dangerous in Canada.

The Climate Action Network's Graham Saul recently rightfully blasted the Harper administration for gutting climate research and muzzling government staff who speak about climate change. If Canadians do not hold the government to account for banning science from the public realm, it is only because of our identity as nice people who don't interfere in others' business.

Worse, a growing Canadian identity aligns itself with the economy before the environment, and with privacy before community - despite the fallacy behind both of these dichotomies. This identity blinds us to our moral obligations to eliminate our contribution of heat-trapping gases and support communities that are already suffering from climate change.

I fear that Albertans vote against their own interests because of an antiquated identity that no longer aligns with our values. We need a renewed, genuine identity that reflects our values and priorities for a sustainable future. Only with that new identity will we ultimately prove Gwynn Dyer wrong.