Ginger Beer, Fear, and the Fate of the World: Perceptions that Need to be Shared
Not a walk in the park.
BY JENNA TRUONG
Some days you just need a growler of ginger beer, but on your journey to RGB you are confronted with fear. On a lovely autumn day — leaves crinkling beneath my boots, empty growlers clinking in my backpack waiting to be filled — I stumbled across six maskless frat boys in the midst of a Greek Row outbreak. My immunocompromised-self started sweating and considered screaming and running the other direction.
Rather than running the other direction, I asked myself: why don’t they feel the same fear I do when going out in a pandemic-ridden world? A similar question has crossed my mind when talking to climate deniers about climate change. Why don’t they feel like I do?
The answer? Risk perception (and polarization, but that’s another conversation).
What do you perceive?
Look at the word cloud below. What words stand out when you think of COVID-19? What about climate change?
The truth is these words fit into two categories: more and less risk. How you align these words with various issues can illuminate if you see something as risky or not. Of course this is not an all encompassing list, but it’s a good jumping off point.
The words that stand out to me when thinking of COVID-19 are unfairly distributed, affecting everyone, and high dread. I would say similar words align with my view of the climate crisis, but I would add in catastrophic, and person-made.
If you compare my answers with the answers below, you may see I perceive both these issues as high risk. However, your answers may have significantly differed from mine.
Perceptions are just perceptions
Whether you agree or disagree with my labeling of these crises, there’s no knowing who’s right when building regulations around these issues. All people have a hard time distinguishing risk and most people’s final perception doesn’t align with others’, which can make it very difficult to reach a consensus.
Whether going to a Halloween party in the middle of a pandemic because of the social benefit, or flying frequently because of your love for travel despite the high emissions, each perception and decision is unique. We can see pros and cons to certain actions we do in our lives but our decisions have a lot of driving factors. “Not only do we have two different systems—logic and instinct, or the head and the gut—that sometimes give us conflicting advice, but we are also at the mercy of deep-seated emotional associations and mental shortcuts” (Discover Magazine).
For instance, my immunocompromised state makes me see COVID-19 as potentially deadly, whereas you may not experience the same health concerns because of a stronger immune system. My education in environmental studies also strongly influences how I react to the climate crisis, but maybe you’re a Swedish major.
You are not the same as me, so the emotional associations going into our risk perceptions are completely different. If there are different factors driving our perceptions, how do we make each other care?
Conversations to change the world
If I were to run away from the maskless frat boys or climate deniers, what progress is made? None. Therefore I invite you to have a conversation explaining your own risk perception. This helps others reassess their actions.
In a hypothetical conversation with the frat boys I encountered, I would try to explain to them that their neglecting to wear a mask caused a significant emotional response in someone who is compromised. Hopefully, they would listen, and the conversation could proceed with at least 24 feet between us (watch out for aerosols).
This could be a productive conversation helping us to better align our values. Realistically, not all conversations are going to feel good or be successful. These conversations are important even if they’re difficult. In general remember to do what you want the planet to and keep your cool.