Even the most casual observer of current events has to admit there is much to be gloomy about. From public health (monkeypox and COVID-19 variants) to mass shootings (Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, among others) to the inability of opinion leaders to agree on basic facts (see the events of Jan. 6, 2021), there is a certain deficit of optimism of late. Throw in some election-year fearmongering on inflation, the stock markets and gasoline prices, and it does seem like the best way to cheer up might be to disconnect from all electronic devices.
Yet in the midst of this profoundly somber time, what subject matter has the commentariat yakking about how doomy forecasts have gone too far and risk unleashing a dangerously apocalyptic mindset upon the populace?
That would be climate change.
Yes, that’s right. Apparently, a lot of folks have gotten too Negative Nancy about how the use of fossil fuels has been fundamentally changing the planet’s climate and not for the better. That’s not to dispute that climate change is a problem exactly (although you can still find plenty in right-wing media casually describing it as a fiction created by political extremists instead of, you know, a demonstrable, carefully measurable trend studied closely by leading scientists). But the critics worry that the circumstances have been cast in such frightening and absolute terms that it may fuel violence. Or it might be creating such despair, especially among young people, that we do little or nothing about the problem. On the internet, people have coined a term, climate “doomers” to describe people who are extremely fatalistic about the problem, and it’s considered really, really bad by both those who accept climate change science and those who deny it.
There may be something to be said about the hazards of doomsaying. Once there’s no hope, what’s the point, right? But the problem here is that climate change denial remains so rampant that advocates for action feel a need to provide a full-throated warning. According to Pew Research Center, most Americans favor the nation pressing toward carbon neutrality by 2050, but they also favor proving more natural gas, a fossil fuel, to Europe. This suggests a certain lack of firmness in our resolve. Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters overwhelmingly favor U.S. support of international efforts to reduce climate change impacts (92%). But among voters who define themselves as conservative Republicans? A majority would oppose that (57%).
Let’s also note that how one feels about climate change may depend on where you live. In California, for example, wildfire season and falling reservoir water levels have become so worrisome that the concept of climate change as an “existential” threat is a given. In Maryland, there are still communities around the Chesapeake Bay where rising seas and increasing salty groundwater are dismissed as just the same old soil erosion they’ve seen for centuries. This makes it thoroughly unsurprising that the majority of people living in the U.S. and other advanced economies do not have faith in international efforts to address the climate change threat, at least not according to a 2021 Pew survey.
Yet color us skeptical that the threat of climate change has been described in too extreme, calamitous terms. For one thing, denial is still too high to believe everyone has gotten the word on the basic premise of global warming. On the other, the outlook does, in fact, look pretty dire. Last year was one of the seven hottest ever recorded, and each decade since the 1980s has been hotter than the previous one. Does anyone seriously believe that enough is being done right now to forestall disaster? Sorry, it can’t be described in rosier terms.
We’re all for whatever conversation is necessary to get people’s attention about climate because, frankly, it’s discouraging that when the price of gasoline edges up, the loudest voices come from those who think the best response is to increase production or toss out taxes rather than decrease demand. President Joe Biden’s support of green energy isn’t a liberal boondoggle, it’s the most sustainable vision for the future. Sorry that acknowledging how increased greenhouse gas production is trapping heat around the planet isn’t always a happy circumstance. Just ask users of the Hassanabad Bridge in Pakistan. It was wiped out by a flood of melted ice from the Shisper Glacier triggered by an unprecedented heatwave.
Does this put you in a state of deep despair? What it should do is cause you to advocate for sensible energy policies that might still soften the blow of climate change. Is that too much to expect?
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Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
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