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A few thoughts on this critique of climate alarm... (1/x)
First, as Will Lawrence points out, those raising the alarm are not playing the FDR role but trying to persuade those in power of the magnititude of the crisis and the urgency of action:
Second, when FDR intoned about there being nothing to fear but fear itself, he was *obviously* saying so because the public was in a panicked frenzy. That is not, at all, where our public or our politics are today.
Third, no one is advocating “panic” as a strategy for dealing with climate change. No one is suggesting that the solution involves anything but thoughtful, large scale, aggressive and immediate policy action.
The problem is that there is not nearly sufficient pressure to produce that policy today. This is because almost no one appreciates the scale of the threat as described by the community of climate scientists.
When we talk about economic collapse or a global climate refugee crisis or agricultural yields falling by half—this is not alarmism, it is a straightforward description of the best projections of the climate science.
Should we not talk about those projections, take them seriously, build policy around them? Should we not talk about what science knows about the dangers of smoking, or pesticides, or drunk driving?
Hope and optimism should obviously play a role in talking about the future of the climate—and quite optimistic outcomes remain possible (because the future is entirely ours to write).
But I sincerely do not believe that it is possible, contemplating the last couple of decades of total climate inaction in the face of just-as-certain science, to believe that fatalism or alarm are bigger problems for climate action than complacency.
We need to be more scared than we are. And the facts are too terrifying to ignore.
But beyond that: this story is too big to tell in one way, the challenge to big to approach in one way. If you feel alarmed, it’s ok to say so. If you have technocratic solutionist faith, that’s great too. It’s going to take everything we can muster (x/x)
