A recent report by psychologists shows an alarming increase in
egocentricity among young adults. In psychological parlance it
is called a narcissistic personality disorder. This potentially
spells bad news for the environment. Psychologists Jean Twenge
and W. Keith Campbell are the authors of The Narcissism
Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. In it they report
that narcissistic personality traits have become so pervasive in
American culture that they threaten to transform us into a
nation of egomaniacs. The condition is particularly common among
young adults where its prevalence matches that of obesity. What
has this to do with the well documented wave of environmental
crises facing the planet? The answer is that the one thing that
prevents us from fixing these crises is a particular symptom of
narcissism – and that is the inability to care about anything
outside your own immediate interests. In a word, narcissism
equates to apathy. Green education is the obvious antidote to
this apathy and the Nation