First of all, and most of all, I want to give a massive salute to all those people who refuse to give in to climate doom, and couldn't give a damn what climate doomers say.
If you're determined to keep pushing for meaningful action on climate change no matter what the charts and graphs are saying, you are golden.
You will save this planet. Just keep going. You've got this.
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Climate Doom is reaching a tipping point. There are only so many parts per million our atmosphere can take, so we need to act, and fast.
It's really important to know what climate doom is and why it's so toxic and unhealthy.
You should learn to recognize it in yourself and in others. As with any mental illness, early diagnosis is crucial.
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Climate Doomers are the new Climate Deniers. Many climate doomers don't realize this, but they could be sponsored by Big Oil.
The reason I say they are the same is because they both lead us in different ways to the same outcome. They lead us to exactly the same place. They lead us to inaction. They lead us nowhere. They lead us to a burning world full of people with graphs and charts saying I told you so.
Nobody wants that world.
There's a weirdly popular misconception about what is meant by Climate Doomerism.
Do you think climate doomer is an insult designed to dismiss anyone making doomful warnings about climate change?
Do you think climate doomer is an offhand way of saying you're overreacting to the massive climate breakdown we are facing?
Yeah well, it's not that.
It's really not.
You can tell me the world is on fire. Because it is.
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Here's the important part. Saying the world is on fire doesn't make you a climate doomer. It's the next part that's important.
If you tell me the world is on fire and we HAVE to do something about it, I will say-
"Yes! God Yes! I'm so happy you're here. Let's go do something about it. Now!"
If you tell me the world is on fire and there's NOTHING we can do about it, I will say-.
"No! God No! You are a Climate Doomer. Get help. Now!"
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I know everyone with half a brain cell is worried about climate change. We all should be talking about it. But there are ways of talking about it that are healthier and more effective than others.
Find whatever works for you, just please, for god's sake, don't be a Climate Doomer. And if you can't help yourself, can you at least try to suffer in silence? You're doing everyone's heads in.
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I will be adding everything I can find about climate messaging and the perils of climate doomerism here. Please feel free to send me articles and your thoughts. I'm always listening.
Sadly, I will be muting all the inevitable climate doomer replies. It's not personal but once you say we're doomed, there's really nothing more you can say about it, is there? You're out of the game. Just try to enjoy the short time you have left, QUIETLY!
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"I keep saying I respect despair as an emotion, but not as an analysis. You can feel absolutely devastated about the situation and not assume this predicts outcome. The facts tell us that the general public is not the problem; the fossil fuel industry and other vested interests are; that we have the solutions, that we know what to do, and that the obstacles are political; that when we fight we sometimes win; and that we are deciding the future now."
Rebecca Solnit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/26/we-cant-afford-to-be-climate-doomers
Recovered Climate Doomer Sean Youra has advice for those who are suffering from the same sort of fatalism that he once felt.
“Stop engaging excessively with negative climate change content online and start engaging in your community. You can be one of those voices showing there is support for the solutions.”
#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/24/climate-doomers-ipcc-un-report/
"Climate "doomers" believe the world has already lost the battle against global warming. That's wrong - and while that view is spreading online, there are others who are fighting the viral tide."
Marco Silva,
Climate Disinformation Specialist,
BBC.
"I don’t want to talk about whether pessimism is accurate. I want to focus on whether it’s useful. People might defend doomsday scenarios as the wake-up call that society needs. If they’re exaggerated, so what? They might be the crucial catalyst that gets us to act on climate change.
Setting aside the moral problem of stretching the truth, this claim is wrong.
Scaring people into action doesn’t work."
Hannah Ritchie
I will repeat this point because it's so important and massively overlooked, especially on Mastodon.
It has been scientifically proven. Scaring people into action on climate change doesn't work.
To all those people posting doom and scary charts and graphs and imploring us to follow the science on climate change, I have one urgent request.
Can you please just follow the science on climate change messaging?
"We need optimism to make progress — yet that alone isn’t enough. To contend with environmental crises and make life better for everyone, we need the right kind of optimists: those who recognize that the world will only improve if we fight for it."
Hannah Ritchie
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https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23622511/climate-doomerism-optimism-progress-environmentalism
"So, are we doomed?"
"If you take away one thing from this blog post, let it be this: No, we are not doomed.
While falling into climate doom is a totally understandable emotional response, here’s why it’s important to fight back against that impulse.
The first and most important reason to resist climate doom is that it’s factually incorrect.
Here’s the good news: No credible climate scientist thinks we’re doomed. Zero."
https://www.carbonneutralclub.com/article/the_truth_behind_climate_doom
"Climate Doom-mongering has overtaken denial as a threat and as a tactic. Inactivists know that if people believe there is nothing you can do, they are led down a path of disengagement."
"Well meaning people unwittingly do the bidding of fossil fuel interests by giving up."
Michael E. Mann,
Climate Scientist.
"Think about it. We already have the technology to completely decarbonize the global electricity grid right now. And most of the innovation needed for the rest simply needs funding. In other words, there is nothing physically stopping us from addressing this crisis and building a better world."
"Every barrier to climate action exists inside people’s heads. It’s a matter of collective will, which always starts from within yourself."
Aaron Hagey-Mackay
"Climate Doom has the especially pernicious effect of affecting people who are engaged with the issue. If those who would otherwise be pushing for meaningful climate action think there’s nothing to be done, then we’ll all just continue to burn fossil fuels, won’t we?"
#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial
https://www.carbonneutralclub.com/article/the_truth_behind_climate_doom
"The best way to fight climate anxiety is to take climate action. Be active. No one has the right to tell you you’re doing it wrong. If you’re helping, that’s all that matters.
Remember, those who have fought for decades against tackling the climate crisis want you to feel powerless. That’s because they know you’re not."
https://www.carbonneutralclub.com/article/how-to-turn-climate-anxiety-into-something-powerful
This is a rolling thread about Climate Anxiety, Climate Doom and Climate Messaging. It's here for you to dip in and out of.
I've put this here on Mastodon for a reason.
You might think Mastodon is full of intelligent well informed people and the reason the climate crisis seems so much worse on here is because people are posting the truth that 'the media' doesn't want you to see.
I would question that. I would ask you to question that.
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"When it comes to climate change we feel as if it is this giant boulder standing dead still and nobody is trying to push that boulder uphill to fix the problem.
The reality is that that giant boulder is already starting to roll.
It's got hundreds, thousands, even millions of hands we just need a few more hands to get it rolling faster, but it is moving in the right direction.
When we look at what is happening with people, that's where I find hope."
Katherine Hayhoe
"Positive messaging can be a powerful tool to inspire hope and action across all levels. It does not exist to put a veil over the harmful impacts and challenges of climate change, nor does it serve to greenwash, but it gives space to the inspiring and empowering stories that mainstream headlines often neglect to capture."
https://www.eauc.org.uk/the_impact_of_positive_messaging_during_a_chang
FUN SCIENCE CHALLENGE TIME!
I keep seeing people on Mastodon saying people should be made to feel terrified about climate change as that's the only way they will be motivated into action.
Scaring people in order to save the planet sounds right up my street and absolutely the best way to spend my time. I'm excited to get on board!
But first, I need to see the science. Can anybody, anywhere show me something, somewhere scientific that proves this approach actually works?
"Many communities of color, already affected by climate change and environmental devastation, lack the time or privilege to get lost on climate doom."
“They have to focus on solutions, because their survival is literally on the line.”
Kristy Drutman.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/climate/climate-change-ok-doomer.html
“‘It’s too late’ means ‘I just want to be comfortable for as much of my life as possible, because I’m already comfortable,.“
"'It’s too late’ means ‘I don’t have to do anything, and the responsibility is off me, and I can continue existing however I want.’”
Phillip Aiken.
We are still facing very dire threats, that’s legitimate."
“But that doesn’t mean that no policy has ever been effective, and no progress has ever been made. And it certainly doesn’t mean that progress isn’t possible.”
Dr. Kate Marvel
“Underneath doomerism and hopeium is the question of ‘Are we going to win?’”
"That’s premature at this point. We need to ask ourselves if we’re going to try. We don’t know till we try if we’re going to win. Whether or not we do, it will still have been worth it.”
Marie Annaise Heglar
#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/climate/climate-change-ok-doomer.html
"We should never forget that low lying island states face an existential threat from climate change. Precisely why we should take ambitious Climate Action and not sink into despair. We have agency!"
Jim Skea,
Chair,
IPCC.
I have seen lots of criticisms of the tone of IPCC Chair Jim Skea's climate messaging.
The criticism is that his warnings against climate despair and calls to action are too optimistic, and is being compared unfavourably to the more urgent warnings of the U.N. leader Antonio Guterres.
The questions I have to ask is, do Guterres and Skea have the same target audience? Who is Guterres addressing? Who is Skea addressing? Do they have the same brief? Should they sound the same?
If you ask me, I think UN Head Antonio Guterres' climate messaging is bang on point. He's addressing the political world, governments and the fossil fuel industries. His tone should be urgent, these groups need to be forced into action.
IPCC Head Jim Skea's climate messaging needn't be the same as this. He's addressing scientists, climate activists and concerned citizens. They are already engaged, already in action, so a bit of positivity from him is not such a terrible thing.
Newly appointed head of the IPCC Jim Skea is being criticised for saying "we should not despair and fall into a state of shock" about climate change. Some people say this message doesn't reflect the urgency of the crisis.
Maybe if these very same people hadn't wilfully misinterpreted every single IPCC report ever produced to invoke climate doom that makes people despair and fall into a state of shock, Jim Skea's climate messaging could be a touch more urgent.
I'm still waiting for anyone to answer my science challenge. I'm serious. Can anyone send me scientific evidence that using doomsday scenarios to scare people into action on climate change actually works?
While we wait, I'll post this piece of science from Tali Sharot.
What do they know about this subject? They're just a Wellcome Trust fellow and principle investigator at the Cognitive Perceptual and Brain Science Division at University College London. That's all.
"Volunteering with various environmental organizations stopped my climate anxiety, primarily because it makes me feel less isolated. I no longer wonder if I’m losing my mind because I’m surrounded by people who take climate change seriously. When you’re with a group of people who fight to protect the planet and humanity’s place on it, suddenly there’s hope."
Jenna Wenkoff,
Alberta,
Canada.
"Any message of hopeful alarm should begin by emphasizing that people have agency, both individually and collectively, to shape the future. The die is not cast: Any actions that reduce carbon emissions today will improve our future, and there are not just two possible outcomes—success or failure. Instead, there is a continuum of potential outcomes, and where we land along that continuum depends on decisions we make now and in the years to come."
"Climate messaging should be based on sounding a hopeful alarm."
This is a great resource for educators who want to find effective ways of talking to students about the climate crisis.
I'm posting it here because in a way we are all educators and the way we approach talking about the climate crisis matters.
https://eos.org/opinions/climate-education-that-builds-hope-and-agency-not-fear
If climate change concern were a political party, they would dominate the U.K. parliament with a massive 77% majority.
So, the question is, how do we turn climate change concern into a political party?
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/one-four-britons-think-climate-change-out-control
@ProjectFearlessness It's a good question. I don't know the answer, though my guess is that evidence doesn't exist.
I would expand the question though, and ask whether there is evidence that *anything* actually works to encourage people to take account on climate change.
If there is, that would be a really good thing to focus on.
@ProjectFearlessness Thanks, looks like she's done some interesting work. On a quick look through it seems she's found out quite a lot about what doesn't work, not so much about what does. But will take a more detailed look.
Any particular papers of hers you'd recommend about what does work?
@dave_von_s
I 'borrowed' them from Katherine Hayhoe. I would also like to find the source but I have had no luck so far. Sorry I can't be of more help.
Attached: 2 images Headlines around the world have been overwhelmed with the impacts of climate change-fueled extremes on people and places. Extreme heatwaves, flash floods, continuous wildfires, record-breaking ocean temps and more: all are being super-sized by our warming planet. Surely, you think, surely THIS will galvanize action? And to a certain extent, it does. Seeing people, places, and things we love being impacted dismantles a main barrier to climate action: psychological distance. Research I did with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that hot, dry extremes do make people more aware of & concerned about climate change. But there are other, greater barriers to climate action. The first is lack of efficacy; i.e. if I do something, will it make a difference? In the US, over 70% are already alarmed or concerned, but 50% feel helpless & don't know what to do to make a difference. For them, as this diagram below explains, more fear-based messaging just paralyzes them even further. For the 20% dismissive or doubtful, their barrier is solution aversion. They're convinced climate action is worse than inaction; that it will rob them of their profits, their freedom, or their ideology. Often they begin with science-y sounding objections (it's the sun! CO2 is plant food!) but within the next breath they'll be talking about the EPA taking away their gas stove or about how they need a gas-powered truck. For them, more evidence for harmful impacts just hardens their resolve to "fight back." That's why, when we talk about climate change, it's essential to pair negative info about the risks with positive info about what we as individuals can do to make a difference and what we as a society can do, and the benefits of those actions for us today, as well as for climate tomorrow. The goal isn't to have the entire world paralyzed by anxiety: it's to have the world galvanized for action. And for that, we need hope; not false hope that everything will be okay (because it won't be, if we don't act) but hope tied to action and efficacy -- the conviction that if we do something, it WILL make a difference.
@geographile
@ProjectFearlessness "And if I spend my life on the losing side
You can lay me down knowing that I tried
There’s a better world and on a quiet day
When I hold my breath
I can hear her say
She is on her way"
from the album Connectivity
I think the issue is that the actual science is pointing to some pretty nasty consequences for not acting on the climate. For example we are already seeing heatwaves, melting glaciers, flooding, and more extreme weather patterns.
However it is not just climate, plastic pollution is also a huge problem.
So the science is being blunt and truthful, which is what people are demanding in a world full of mis information and trying to play down what is happening.
When it comes to taking action, we are going to need to make changes. Disucssing what we get from oil on here has prompted me to make some blog posts looking at this, as we get so many products from oil.
https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/what-do-we-get-from-crude-oil
Some plastics for example. How do we replace them, As quoted on the above, it is not always better energy wise to use other methods. I have made a start and just brought forward a blog post
https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/monomer-synthesis
So we need to encourage people to change what they use, find viable alternatives etc and make changes that way, the scare tactics to stop drilling for oil, won't help, We need R&D to accelerate the search for alternatives.
So I agree with you scare tactics may not work for every one and may have the opposite effect, just stop oil are just annoying people, result of that is they may drive more out of spite despite knowing what the does to the climate.
I think some of the message on tobacco prpducts about cancers etc are scary and may have an effect on some people, but there are alternatives e.g vaping or perhaps nicotine patches.
ProjectFearlessness
Tina Cordon
Adam Jacobs 🇺🇦
ÐДѷє ۷ǿȵ ຣ
Marc
anarchademic
Ailbhe
Paul Sutton