Josep Maria Panés examines climate crisis through psychoanalysis

In the book ‘La locura del progreso. Un psicoanalista escribe sobre el cambio climático’, Josep Maria Panés explores the climate crisis through the lens of psychoanalysis. He argues that the ecological emergency is not merely a scientific or political issue, but a symptom of a social structure driven by the concept of ‘no limits’—the constant drive to produce, consume, and accumulate indefinitely on a finite planet.

Panés utilizes psychoanalytic concepts from Freud and Lacan, such as the death drive and cultural malaise, to explain why humanity continues destructive behaviors despite having vast amounts of information regarding environmental decay. He suggests that contemporary capitalism creates permanent dissatisfaction, using consumption as a way to satisfy impulses, which ultimately exhausts both human subjects and planetary resources. A central theme is the ‘refusal to know,’ a subjective resistance to facing an agonizing reality that would necessitate fundamental changes to how people live.