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.

🧵2

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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.

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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.

🧵4

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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!"

🧵5

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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.

🧵6

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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!

🧵7

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

"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.

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-61495035#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16913607988931&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fblogs-trending-61495035

"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

#ClimateAction

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23622511/climate-doomerism-optimism-progress-environmentalism#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16913618894100&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-highlight%2F23622511%2Fclimate-doomerism-optimism-progress-environmentalism

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?

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

"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

#ClimateAction

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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."

#ClimateAction

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.

#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

"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

#ClimateAction

"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."

#ClimateAction

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.

🧵18

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

"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

#ClimateAction

"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."

#ClimateAction

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?

#ClimateAction

"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.

#ClimateAction

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.

#ClimateAction
#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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

#ClimateAction

“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.

#ClimateAction

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?

#ClimateAction

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.

#ClimateAction

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.

#ClimateDoomIsTheNewClimateDenial

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.

#ClimateAction