Psychedelics: A possible solution to save the planet from climate change?

Thousands of people came together to promote psychedelics as an unusual but possible solution for the climate crisis at the New York City's annual Climate Week, which was held last week, The Guardian reported.

A group consisting of academics, marketers and advocates gathered for a film on pairing magic mushrooms with music. This was then followed by a discussion on funding ketamine-assisted therapy and a panel on “Balancing Investing & Impact with Climate & Psychedelic Capital”, under the banner of Psychedelic Climate Week.

Marissa Feinberg, the founder of Psychedelics for Climate Action, said that many of the attendees shared their belief that psychedelic experiences may spark “consciousness shifts”, which in return can inspire climate-friendly behaviors.

Hallucinogens, including psychedelics like LSD, empathogens like MDMDA, and dissociatives like ketamine, are already being used to treat depression, addiction, and other mental health issues, and many believe there's potential for more.

Explaining the same in an interview, Feinberg said that psychedelic drugs, if used under the right circumstances, can help in relieving personal stress in addition to promoting mindfulness.

She also mentioned that it is not only consumers who can benefit from psychedelic experiences, but when it comes to social issues and climate, these drugs might also help C-suite executives to “think outside the box” .

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's use of psychedelics is a case in point, indicating that the use of psychedelic drugs has also gained prominence among top business leaders.

Further explaining her comment, Feinberg mentioned that Amazon’s anti-worker policies as well as high carbon emissions may be related to Jeff Bezos’s feelings of unworthiness. She said that if Jeff Bezos experienced “healing”, he might shift from solely focusing on amassing wealth to incorporating compassion and sustainability.

Bennet Zelner, a business school professor at the University of Maryland and one of Feinberg’s collaborators, is also researching psychedelic experiences for organisational leaders and trying to figure out whether they spur more compassionate decision-making.

Another scholar, Nicolas Langlitz, a historian of science at the New School who studies psychedelics, said that psychedelic experiences are associated with “pro-environmental” behavior or feeling “nature-connectedness” as per some research. However, he added a caveat, saying that the evidence is very limited and is full of potentially confounding factors.

In a 2017 study, it was found that those who reported hallucinogen use were also more likely to report that they recycled and saved water. However, the study's limitation was that the participants were recruited from Amazon’s crowdsourcing platform, who were younger, more educated as well as more experienced with psychedelics compared to that of the average US citizen.

Langlitz added that several other studies also indicate a correlation between using the substances and pro-social behavior or anti-authoritarian sentiment. That being said, there exist plenty counter-examples as well.

While there's plenty of research to be done on the link between climate-friendly behaviour and psychedelic use, the interest in inward-focused climate action is likely to rise in the absence of robust climate policy, those in attendance felt.