Susan Bodnar PhD

Obese Primates

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  Update: The following post is very rant-like, my apologies.  The research on monkeys upsets me.  Do we have to do this to these creatures who can’t make choices to prove that not getting outside and moving one’s body and eating poorly can be deleterious to health? I’m glad we have medical interventions that can […]

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Psychology and Environment: Summary

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For the past month I have been participating in an on-line seminar about psychology and the environment. The seminar ended (see previous posts here, here, and here) with many questions.  Do psychologists have any special contributions that can help with our environmental crisis?  How can psychology contribute to the discussions on climate change? See my final thoughts after […]

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Gulf Oil Spill

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I’m working on pulling together words and ideas from psychological theory to explain why we let this happen, how it will affect us, and what we can do to encourage people to stop hurting our planet.  As the sick and wounded wildlife covered in oil begin to appear, and as life forms are decimated- from […]

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We the People: A Response to Evan Thomas and Al Gore

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An adolescent with whom I work discussed the complexity of privilege.  “My parents paid just over $12,000.00 for our family to go on a 5-day wilderness backpacking trip, with a service that provides the gear, the food, a plane to transport you there and a guide. I loved it and it changed me, like any […]

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Whales and Humans

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Someone else has finally articulated my long-held but private thought that there really is communication between ourselves and other mammals. Whales, it seems, are checking us out. When Charles Siebert described the female humpback swimming around her rescuers in “joyous circles” and then “nudging them all gently as if in thanks”, a whole series of […]

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