dismiss people as a given. Climate change and other forms of human impact on earth s ecology are the effects, and humans are the cause, or at least so the story goes. The traditional assumption held by many environmentalists and earth scientists is that humans are infinitely changeable, pliable, easy to shape. Psychology tells us this is far from the truth. The unchangeable parts of human behavior are a combination of those special behavioral characteristics that make us uniquely human, plus those ancient unconscious motives buried deep in the oldest part of the triune brain. That reptilian brain evolved, survived, and was naturally selected because it eliminated the need to consciously attend to matters of immediate survival. These are the centers that predispose us to seek out and consume resources. They give us the energy to produce and nurture our young to adulthood, to become aggressive when we need to defend them, ourselves, or our property, and to make good on nature's grand design by motivating us to innovate. PARADIGM SHIFT is a collection of new and previously published essays in psychology, anthropology, and bioethics. They share in common the theme that humans are not infinitely changeable. Moreover, a new naturalism about human--environment interactions is immediately necessary in order to achieve environmental sustainability. Without it, climate change and other human caused damage is likely to bring about an ecological disaster that will compromise many living species, including and especially human beings. These readings are appropriate for 21st century environmentalists and students of human--ecology.

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