against despair
Amid the headlines of wildfires, droughts and floods, it’s easy to be discouraged about climate change.
I felt it myself when there was a United Nations panel published The latest major report on global warming. He said humanity is running out of time to avoid some of the worst effects of a warming planet. Another report is coming tomorrow. So I called the experts to find out if my sense of doom is warranted.
To my reassurance, they took a step back against the notion of despair. He argued that the world had made real progress on climate change and still had time to act. Along with the denialism that Republican lawmakers have historically used to delay climate laws, they said any inevitable declaration of apocalypse would hamper action. This kind of comeback is part of a budding movement: Activists defying climate fear recently popped up on TikTok with my colleague Cara Buckley. reported.
“Fear is useful for waking us up and paying attention,” said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University. “But if we don’t know what to do, it paralyzes us.”
A climate change focused questionnaire Last year, 75 percent of young people in 10 countries said the future was scary. now some people use therapy to allay climate concerns. Some have drastically changed their lives for fear of a warming planet—even deciding not to have children.
Climate change is of course a huge challenge, threatening the world with the extreme weather we’ve seen over the past few years. And the situation is urgent: experts to meet President Biden’s climate goals to disputeCongress should pass the climate provisions of the Build Back Better Act this year.
But instead of viewing the climate problem as overwhelming or hopeless, experts said we should see it as a call to action.
reasons for hope
The world has made real progress in slowing climate change in recent years. In most parts of the world, solar and wind power is now cheaper than coal and gas. The cost of batteries has fallen over the past few decades, making electric vehicles much more accessible. Governments and businesses spend hundreds of billions of dollars on clean energy.
Before 2015, the world was expected to warm by about four degrees Celsius by 2100. Today the world is on track for three degrees Celsius. And if world leaders meet their current commitments, the planet will warm up. about two degrees Celsius.
This is not enough to declare victory. The standard target adopted by world leaders to avoid the worst consequences of climate change is to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. Unfortunately, this seems increasingly out of reach, experts said.
But every drop in degrees counts. A tenth of a degree may seem like a little, but it can save lives by preventing further wildfires, droughts, floods and conflicts over dwindling resources.
And while the best outcome may seem dubious now, so is the worst. Scientists have long worried about runaway warming, which creates out-of-control weather, renders regions uninhabitable, and destroys ecosystems. But Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the State of Pennsylvania, said forecasts currently show that scenario is unlikely.
to channel despair
Experts and advocates want to capture legitimate concerns and put them into action. The world’s governments and largest businesses have set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades, but they will need the help and support of the public.
A model for this is road safety. Drivers can reduce the risk of accidents by driving carefully, but even the safest can crash. The US has reduced car crash deaths for decades by enacting sweeping laws and regulations requiring seat belts, airbags, and foldable steering wheels; drunk driving penalty; built safer roads and more – a collective approach.
The same kind of pathway could work for climate change, experts said. Reducing individual carbon footprints is less important than the systemic changes governments and companies are enacting to help people live more sustainably. While individual action can help, it cannot match the impact of all civilizations that have built their economies on burning carbon sources for energy.
The need for a comprehensive solution can make the problem feel too big and individuals feel too small, and again despair.
But experts said individuals can still make a difference by playing with a collective approach. By changing the politicians and policies they support, you can persuade your friends and family to take the issue seriously. You can be involved in policy (including at the local level where many climate policies are carried out). You can actively share on social media about global warming. You can donate money to climate causes.
As a result, experts have repeatedly told me: Don’t give up on the future. Look for productive ways to prevent the impending doom.
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