Behind the cathartic whining, what happens is what people want, and I wouldn't say they're being irrational in sacrificing the environment. People don't want to lose their competitive edge, because they're more afraid of the Chinese than hurricanes. They're whining about it, just like they're celebrating heroes (in the hope that other people will buy into it, and that they don't have to act upon it). People know what they're doing, but they don't care... Invent first a man who will protect his fellow, before his genes and pleasure, and then the system will change. (call me cynical)
I'm happy you got to cathartically whine. I do that too.
But I'll disagree with your cynicism. Here are some areas where people invented ways to overcome their caveman brains:
democracy
engineering
mathematics
modern legal systems
Each of these is a response to humanity's inborn inability to do something we thought was very valuable. Each contributes to a society that "protects his fellows," to use your words. None is perfect, of course, but each is better than practical alternatives.
Not only can we invent ways to overcome huge problems, we have invented them. We have yet to invent a way for people to understand dynamical systems.
(I'm taking these ideas from videos of Alan Kay I've watched)
You're right, sorry, I have such moods. In fact, I have ideas. The problem is fear feeds competition, and competition feeds pollution. There needs more empathy between the people, and more education about each other... I thought the social scholars should figure out ways to increase bonding between cultures.
I had ideas which could seem strange, for experiment. Imagine you're told to eat a yoghurt, while looking at a foreigner eating a yoghurt. I think it could increase bonding, and empathy, ect... It's just a thought. (Don't make fun of my yoghurt.)
You say "fear feeds competition" but there's an opposing view by rhetoricians: Nothing ever gets better without at least the threat of competition. I don't often find myself defending competition, but there you go.
As to your empathic observation idea: go for it! One of my go-to heuristics is "symmetry of experience", that is, the more aligned the teacher and student are for example, the better the learning is. Symmetry happens often in communities and rarely in hyper-specialized institutions.
