Dr Barry Davis – Human Nature Gets in the Way of Solving Big Problems

Dr. Barry Davis makes the point that overcoming human nature and adopting a prevention mindset could reshape our response to climate change which follows the same pattern he’s seen in public health crises: early resistance, delayed action, and eventual reckoning.

Dr. Davis has had a distinguished career as a physician and bio-statistician. Having begun his academic career at MIT, and getting his MD from University of California at San Diego, and a PhD in applied mathematics at Brown University, he is now a Professor Emeritus at University of Texas School of Public Health. And recently he has written a book titled, The Preventioneers: Diseases, Disasters, and the Discoveries that Changed the World.

The book begins with fire prevention. It was Benjamin Franklin who coined to term “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Franklin was referring to fire prevention. He was a historian and struck by the Great Fire of London in 1666. That disaster led to change… building codes were established, as were fire departments, warning systems etc. In addition to his role as an inventor and journalist, Franklin became a firefighter.

Dr. Davis is board certified in medical prevention. His career focused on hypertension, on blood pressure, what he calls the silent killer. While there are means to prevent hypertension and its symptoms… heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and more… still 80% of those with high blood pressure are not adequately treated. Despite ample awareness, treatments that work… the numbers of people not taking action are shocking.

The conversation digs into responsibility.. the responsibility of individuals, communities, and government action. Clearly, there is a need to work together, things like traffic laws exemplify this. During the pandemic, clearly there was a need for vaccination and a need for isolation to present the spread of diseases. Some things we got very right… like the lightning speed roll-out of vaccines. But other things were not done well. We used to have a government office of Disease prevention.

He makes the point that climate change is not unique, that adapting a prevention mindset could reshape our response. Climate change follows the same pattern seen in public health crises. There is early resistance, delayed action, and eventual reckoning. There is a broad human tendency related to disasters: Rather than preventing them, even when there is strong evidence and early warnings are available, there is delay and inaction. Dr. Davis laments that climate change is not preventable now. We are past that point. Now we have mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.

The conversation wraps up with solutions. What can each of us do about climate change? First, vote for the right leaders to get government-level action. Take action in our communities… organize and contribute to prevention. Then there is the role of the media. Dr. Davis notes that fires and floods make the news for a few days, and then we move on. There needs to be persistent coverage and stories of climate change in movies and literature, and on social media. There needs to be more education and awareness… persistent messages about this enormous planetary threat to our civilization. Without question, we need to break past human nature, and address this huge threat head on.