Are you frightened by climate change? Do you worry about
what sort of world we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren? In the
words of science writer and author of “The Uninhabitable Earth” David
Wallace-Wells, “No matter how well informed you are, you are surely not alarmed
enough.”
I would put it even more strongly.
If the fracturing of our once stable climate doesn’t terrify
you, then you don’t fully understand it. The reality is that, as far as we
know, and in the natural course of events, our world has never — in its entire
history — heated up as rapidly as it is doing now. Nor have greenhouse gas
levels in the atmosphere ever seen such a precipitous hike.
Think about that for a moment. We’re experiencing, in our
lifetimes, a heating episode that is probably unique in the last 4.6 billion
years.
While those of us working in the climate science field know
the true picture, and understand the implications for our world, most others do
not. And this is a problem — a big one. After all, we can’t act effectively to
tackle a crisis if we don’t know its full depth and extent.
What’s happening to our world scares the hell out of me, but
if I shout the brutal, unvarnished truth from the rooftops, will this really
galvanize you and others into fighting for the planet and your children’s
futures? Or will it leave you frozen like a rabbit in headlights, convinced
that all is lost? It is an absolutely critical question.
With politicians and corporations unable or unwilling to
take action rapidly enough to stymie emissions as the science demands, all we
as climate scientists are left with is to seek to rouse the public to try and
force through — via the ballot box and consumer choices — the enormous changes
required to curb global heating.
But would telling it like it is do the trick, or would the
burden of truth be too much to bear?
A major psychological study, published by the scientific
journal Lancet Planetary Health in 2021, found that most 16–25 year olds in 10
countries across the globe were moderately to extremely worried about climate
change, but more than half felt overwhelmed and powerless to act. It would seem
reasonable to argue, on this basis, that painting an even worse picture
wouldn’t help. But if this is the case, does it mean we shouldn’t provide
people with the full facts if they are too scary? Surely not.
In fact, this isn’t a matter of scaring or not scaring
people, but of informing them. As a climate scientist, it is my duty to tell
you about what is happening to our world, whether it engenders fear or not.
A failure to do this will mean that the public is left
ignorant of the true extent of the climate emergency, which in turn can only
hinder engagement and action.
This is already becoming a problem, with many commentators
on the right of the political spectrum, along with some climate scientists,
denigrating as “doomers” anyone flagging the worst outcomes of global heating.
Such climate “appeasement” is increasingly taking the place of denial and could
be an even greater driver of inertia than fear, as it plays down the enormity
of the problem — and as an inevitable consequence, the urgency of action.
The truth is that people can take being scared if they know
there is still hope and that they can do something to make things better, or at
least stop things getting worse.
A 2022 study by researchers from the University of Bath in
the UK found that scary images of wildfires and other climate-related
catastrophes around the world were particularly effective at cultivating
climate anxiety, defined by the American Psychological Association as the
chronic fear of environmental doom. Rather than leading to inaction, however,
the study showed that this could be a motivating force that spurred the sample
of UK adults to adopt measures that helped to reduce emissions.
Critically, the authors of the study observed that the
reality of climate change has to be communicated without inducing a feeling of
hopelessness — and this is the key.
One of the ways of doing this is to encourage collective
action. Many people have said to me that they feel isolated or that as
individuals, they don’t think they can make a worthwhile difference.
My answer is always to join a group of like-minded people
and to work with them to drive institutional and systemic change. In every
case, this has had a galvanizing effect, replacing hopelessness with hope;
inertia with action.
The bottom line is that many things in life are scary or
worrying, from going to the dentist to noticing a potential sign of cancer, but
ignoring them almost invariably results in something far worse happening down
the line.
Climate change is no different. Everyone has the right to
know the facts — scary or not — so as to provide the opportunity to act based
upon the reality of what we are doing to our planet, and not on some sanitized
version.
Rather than leading to inaction, I believe this could be
transformative.
