sourced foods, is by contrast, says Brown, “a member of society and
Creating an environmental sense of self through regular practice
culture, and is subject to a different set of influences.”
is a core teaching of the nation’s most successful environmental
Prominent among these influences is one seemingly hardwired education program, designed for adults and children. At the Teva
into human beings and other primates: the desire to demonstrate Learning Center in the rolling hills of western Connecticut, about
refined social status. In a famous 1982 study by UCLA neuroscientist 1,200 fifth and sixth graders from Jewish private schools come every
Michael McGuire, high-status monkeys who lost their social standing year for three- to four-day visits to study ecology and traditional
to others in their group experienced rapidly plunging levels of the religious teachings on the environment. Their instructors are cool
mood-elevating and -stabilizing brain chemical serotonin. Those 20-somethings in hiking boots and wooly, crocheted yarmulkes.
whose status rose experienced concurrent serotonin gains. In other
Teva—the name means ark in Hebrew—is a total-immersion
words, being on top and having others know it makes you feel better; environmental experience where kids explore the smells and
falling in status, and having others witness that, feels like crap.
textures of trees and learn how all energy originally derives from
And while a human’s brain chemistry is probably a bit different than the sun. Games like the psolet (which means waste in Hebrew)
a monkey’s, it’s no wonder that many of us are driven to constantly contest teach environmental awareness.
prove our status by possessing more and more. After all, few things
Before the kids’ first meal at Teva, the students are told they
say, “Hey, I can afford it,” like a $60,000 Cadillac Escalade with its can eat as much as they want. They can come back for seconds or
$3,500 annual fuel bill. Conversely, environmentally
thirds even, but they should try not to create too much
preferable options like living in a smaller home or
psolet. After each meal, the leftover food is collected
taking public transportation have, at least to
in a bucket and ceremoniously weighed to
date, marked you as a loser.
the chorus of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,”
Besides this primal urge, we’re
banged out on dining hall tables. (Teva’s
driven to consume for other reasons:
resident goats enjoy the spoils.) The
to impress potential mates, to
goal is to have the kids produce less
of those surveyed believe
express love and affection, to
psolet as their visits progress. By the
is a
that
communicate our individuality.
last lunch at a session this fall, 45
No matter how bad it is for the
kids produced less than a pound of
planet, Brown says, “We consume
waste collectively, a new record.
— the majority labeling it
a lot because, in our society, that’s
Teva kids also devise and sign
“a very serious problem.”
what people do.”
a covenant with the earth called
That’s up from 74%
There’s another hindrance
a Brit Adamah. It’s a commitment
of environmentally responsible
to perform a chosen environmental
behavior that needs to be taken
action for six weeks. Whether it’s
seriously: Economically, doing the
becoming a vegetarian, taking shorter
right thing is often much more difficult
showers, or not having an XBox, Wii, TV,
and expensive, at least in the short term.
and computer all plugged in and turned on
Take energy-efficient windows for example.
simultaneously—it’s more practice at doing the
Installing them can cut the average American
right thing. The Brit also promotes another environmental
household’s carbon emissions by more than a ton and a half
behavior change: the pledge. Studies show that people who
each year. But unless your local building code requires them—and sign pledges—and the actual signing of a piece of paper seems to be
most don’t—you first have to be aware that they exist, then spend important, rather than simply speaking a verbal oath—are far more
a lot of time and money getting them installed. “It’s at this level likely to follow through on their commitments.
that we need to be thinking,” explains Canadian environmental
After six weeks, the students can send their pledge cards back
psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr. “Unless we remove barriers to and receive a prize: an earth-shaped bead to wear on a necklace
people acting in ways that are environmentally effective, it’s not with other beads, each representing an environmental subject they
surprising that people are going to make irresponsible choices.”
mastered at Teva. Jonathan Dubinsky, Teva’s program director,
Because, whether we’re citizens or consumers, lab monkeys or estimates that 70 percent of the kids complete their covenants. “I
human beings, living green must come easy or most people won’t think kids really connect to the idea that when a bunch of people
do it. Right now, though, that easy green thing isn’t happening too work together, we can really accomplish a lot,” he adds.
often. So what can help people get over the hump and embrace the
But there’s probably more going on as well. Thinking about how
idea of doing what’s right?
one’s behavior impacts the environment becomes the community
Practice, McKenzie-Mohr says. When people who are not norm, even for students with little or no prior environmental
particularly environmentally aware or inclined start doing awareness. The act of reading their pledges aloud to classmates
something that’s good for the environment—like, say, participating and teachers makes the kids accountable to each other. Moreover,
in a curbside recycling program—they often begin to think of all this pro-environment behavior is modeled by those cool (read:
themselves as being concerned about the fate of the earth. “People’s high status) Teva teachers, whom all the kids love.
perceptions of themselves are often driven by their behavior,”
Without the goats or psolet scales, the Low Carbon Diet
McKenzie-Mohr explains. That new self-concept can then spur program—that’s carbon, not carbs—is trying to do for adults
further pro-environment behaviors.
what Teva does for kids: offer environmental education, create
83%
global warming
serious problem
who identified it as
“serious”
in 2005.
70 | february-march 2008