They yell at us: "Stop being a doomer! You have to give people hope!"

To which I respond with what Greta Thunberg says: "I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act!"

Along those lines, I strongly recommend this superb new essay from author and climate campaigner Jonathon Porritt, in which he explains that mainstream climate scientists, by insisting we should always be positive and hopeful, run the risk of becoming the new climate deniers.

Here is a brief summary...
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1. The speed with which the climate is now changing is faster than (almost) all scientists thought possible.

2. There is now zero prospect of holding the average temperature increase this century to below 1.5°C; even 2°C is beginning to slip out of reach. The vast majority of climate scientists know this, but rarely if ever give voice to this critically important reality.

3. At the same time, the vast majority of people still haven’t a clue about what’s going on – and what this means for them and everything they hold dear.

4. The current backlash against existing (already wholly inadequate) climate measures is also accelerating – and will cause considerable political damage in 2024. Those driving this backlash represent the same old climate denial that has been so damaging over so many years.

5. The science-based institutions on which we depend to address this crisis have comprehensively failed us. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is incapable of telling the whole truth about accelerating climate change; the Conference of the Parties (under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) has been co-opted by the fossil fuel lobby to the point of total corruption.

6. By not calling out these incontrovertible realities, mainstream scientists are at risk of becoming the new climate deniers.
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Read the whole thing -- https://www.jonathonporritt.com/mainstream-climate-science-the-new-denialism/

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

Mainstream Climate Science: The New Denialism? - Jonathon Porritt

This is a bit of a long one! So here’s my “Executive Summary” so you can decide whether to commit the time to the rest of it: mainstream climate scientists run the risk of becoming the new climate deniers.

Jonathon Porritt

@breadandcircuses the common issue I see in climate “doomerism” is that while the articles are good at raising concern, there’s often little advice on exactly what people should do when they’re told to “act”.

Simple things like using transit, biking for more of your local needs, reducing driving, avoiding any plastics, etc. Basically, people need to be told how to live a decent lifestyle.

@bluejekyll @breadandcircuses Most of those "simple" things are not simple. We've got car culture, single use stuff ***everywhere***

@geonz @bluejekyll @breadandcircuses you’ve got to start somewhere. People’s dependence on cars is something they can change if they want to. It’s also something they can help fix locally by working with your local governments to get safer streets for non-car users.

Single use stuff is something you can choose not to buy, carry a water bottle with you all the time for example. These choices are simple, even if it makes some things less convenient.

@bluejekyll @breadandcircuses and in the meantime a million times what I saved is being dumped into an estuary by an industry but hey!!! we have to "start" somewhere? They are finishing us.