In 1981, less than a month after evidence of global warming was first reported on its front page, the The New York Times asked B. F. Skinner about the fate of humanity. The famous psychologist had recently argued that a feature of the human mind virtually guaranteed global environmental disaster. “Why do we not act to save our world?” Skinner asked, citing myriad threats to the planet.
His answer: Human behavior is governed almost entirely by our experiences—specifically, by which actions have been rewarded or punished in the past. The future, having not yet happened, will never have