Carbone 4's New Year's Message: "2020: Truth or Dare?"

Carbone 4 was pleased to host its 2020 New Year’s reception on January 28 at La Bellevilloise—a festive and friendly gathering that brought together people committed to taking action and making tangible progress on climate issues.

Following an introduction by the three partners of Carbone 4— Jean-Marc Jancovici, Alain Grandjean, and Laurent Morel, we were pleased to welcome Olivier Boucher, a climatologist and research director at the CNRS Laboratory of Dynamic Meteorology, who presented a brief climate overview at the start of the decade.

To shed new light on environmental issues, we were eager to welcome Sébastien Bohler, Ph.D. in neuroscience, editor-in-chief of *Cerveau et psycho* magazine, and author of *The Human Bug: Why Our Brains Drive Us to Destroy the Planet and How to Stop It*. During his talk, Sébastien Bohler sheds light on a small organ called the striatum, which has governed our behavior since the dawn of our species. The striatum has conditioned the human brain to pursue five goals aimed at ensuring the survival of the species: eating, reproducing, acquiring power, expanding territory, and asserting dominance over others. The problem is that the striatum is in control of an increasingly powerful brain and demands ever more rewards for its actions. Faced with this addiction, it cannot fight its tendency toward excess. While our brain was once our ally, it is now on the verge of becoming our worst enemy. Sébastien Bohler thus offers us solutions to overcome the human brain’s tendency to always want more.

On issues related to energy and climate, The year 2020 has often been seen as a symbol, a pivotal year. But in reality, climate goals are still far from being a priority. It is up to all of us, collectively, to make 2020 the year we put an end to procrastination, so that we can rise to the challenges we face. As climate issues become increasingly pressing, Carbone 4 remains, now more than ever, principled, demanding, and bold—without compromising on the scientific facts that must be acknowledged, and without making concessions on the actions that must be taken.

Check out the videos from the event