The skills that the ego develops from birth onwards are in the service of the reality principle, driven by the instinct for self-preservation. They are diverted by the interests of the sexual instinct, serving pleasure and the reproduction of the species. The environment provides for our needs, and humanity lives at the expense of the planet, drawing heavily on its riches and exploiting its resources without restriction. “Modify the external world to our advantage”, says Freud. But faced with the urgent threat of climate change, with its effects of biodiversity loss and the scarcity of vital elements – air, water – what psychic possibilities does the human species have to become aware of this unprecedented and real threat, when “the weak point of our psychic organization” is its tendency to submit to the pleasure principle?