I am fed up with it! I am tired of hearing all the media shouting about climate change! I have had enough of it and I detest all the people yelling: “it is going to be the end of the world!” And it is really puzzling to see them still using the airplane to go on vacation; taking a (diesel) car instead of a bike or a hike; keeping on buying useless stuff; wearing clothes produced with polluting chemicals; trashing the streets with their plastic waste and cigarettes; purchasing jewellery and leather which have an impact on the environment like deforestation; etc. etc. When I see those people talking out load about climate change, it always makes me think about what a great man once said:
“There’s so much talking about the system. And so little understanding.”
– Robert M. Pirsig
Yes, I am appalled. And this may be very strange for some of you. Because all those who know me, know that I do care. Very much. They know that I am truly worried about the environment and feel sad when hearing about the destruction of Mother Nature. I am puzzled when I see people doing irresponsible things, without reflecting and thinking.
So yes: I do care. And in fact, many of my friends do know that I am actually engaged and very interested in understanding anthropogenic Climate Change. I am even following a MOOC on edX on this subject.
So why then, does all this news fatigue me? Why am I abhorred by it?
I am going to explain it to you, but first let me take you to my childhood to give you a little bit more context.
Columbo
When I was 13 years old, often, on Sunday evenings, I was sitting on the coach and watching television. Most of the time I was watching action movies: Rocky, Kickboxer, Kung Fu flicks, whatever.
Now, my father always arrived much later, took the remote control and changed the channel. OOH, I hated this! Above all, when he wanted to see the crime drama series Columbo. Indeed, it’s the famous one with Peter Falk who plays a homicide detective in the LAPD, wearing a trench coat, smoking a Cuban cigar and driving around in his old Peugeot 403.
Nevertheless, slowly, after watching several episodes, I started to like it. Why so?
Because, while Inspector Columbo tries to solve the murder case, he never let himself being influenced by his own emotions, by the manipulations of others. In order to find the truth he keeps his cool, does not show his true thoughts and says:
“Just the facts, Ma’am! Just the facts!” [i]
Just the facts! That says it all! When trying to understand a complex system, dealing with a difficult problem, it is of upmost importance to focus on the facts. To put your emotions on the side. This is truly difficult. Which is understandable, of course, because we are emotional human beings. Most of the times, truth looks us straight in the eyes but we just look away. We don’t see it because we are too emotional. And to be honest: I do it too, many times.
Climate Change
Let’s get back to the main subject: Climate Change. As I said before, I started learning about anthropogenic climate change, trying to understand its impacts on our society. When you read the reports from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), you will notice that it is completely scientific. It is dry and factual. There is no emotion in those reports and this makes it, for common people like me, sometimes a bit hard to read and understand. I nevertheless want to give you two very important facts, as stated in their reports:
1. The correspondence between CO2 concentration and temperature
With the use of proxy records — tree rings, ice cores, corals and lake sediments — scientist have discovered a correlation between CO2 levels in the atmosphere and temperature levels. Looking at the graph below we can see that when CO2 levels were high, around 300 ppm, the average global temperature was +2 °C higher (e.g. the red peak at 120 thousand years ago). When the carbon dioxide concentration went down, temperature went down. If we look at today’s CO2 level in the atmosphere, which is now raising exponentially, we can expect an increase in global temperature levels. The red line on the right side of the graph is expected to go up, a phenomenon that is already being seen across the globe.
What will be the result of an increase in temperatures? When the average temperature is raising so do extreme weather conditions. As seen in the graph below, the Bell Curve is shifting from the left to the right side, showing an increase of intense heat waves during summer. If you warm the planet by 1°C, you can double the area that falls into the extreme tail on the right, the tail of extreme heat waves. The shift in the curve, from the left towards the right, took a 1-in-1000-year event and turned it into a 1-in-20-year event. If we continue on the course we are on, this extreme heat event can be a once in 2-year event.
2. Extreme weather events
If you want to see a well-done infographic with more information about climate change impacting our societies, please take a look at the site of Carbonbrief.
After seeing these facts provided by IPCC and many scientists, you can ask yourself the following question: And so? Is climate change a problem? Is it a bad thing?
Well, these are value-based questions. It depends on your personal values. You should question your personal values first. What do find important? Is it Truth? Justice? Beauty? Wealth? Health?
Personally, regarding my personal values, I think anthropogenic climate change is a big, big problem. Not only for all those beautiful animals, plants and the environment, but also for us, humans. Sure, in the West people have the means and money to fight climate change. They can build dykes, adapt homes, improve the medical system. However, in Africa, Latin America, in most parts of Asia, people do not have the possibility to fight and adapt. They are poor, without power or political means, without aid.
Languages used
What is actually very important here as well, when we are talking about Climate Change, is language. What I mean is the language used by the media. Most of the times the media and politicians are using the language of catastrophe, not the language of science. It is heavily politicised.
In 2006, the UK Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) did a discourse analysis, a research about the rhetoric used in the discussions and debates about climate change. They analysed about 600 magazines, articles, newspapers, publications and broadcasts. What they found out is that the climate change discourse is chaotic and that there are a couple of distinct linguistic repertoires.
Some of the most used are:
- Nihilism. This one ‘dismisses climate change as a thing so fantastic that it cannot be true and reflects a refusal to engage in the debate.’ It is an evasive repertoire. Nihilist are like a good friend of mine who is a heavy smoker and says, “Smoking is not bad at all because some smokers do get 90 years old.”
- Rhetorical scepticism. People who are using this repertoire are saying scientists are using ‘bad science’. They even argue that it is all pseudoscience and flawed. This is like my friend who saying, ‘Smoking is not bad at all. Never!’
- Techno-optimism. Arguments are used to say that technology will resolve all problems. It will save us all. Techno-optimists — a great deal of them are working at big oil companies, representing the status quo — usually say we just need to wait for future technology. “It will be alright!” So wait until the right time has come. Until hell freezes over.
- Alarmism. This is a fundamentally pessimistic and extreme repertoire, and used everywhere, not only in the climate change debate.
Personally, I find this alarmism very tiresome. It’s like a priest shouting and crying that we are all damned and we will go to hell. This just doesn’t help. The institute also found out that bombarding, whipping people with negative news makes them feel even less motivated to act. They feel without power and defensive. They will not act anymore, it distances people from the problem. If people feel everything goes to hell, why bother doing anything?
The problem here is that alarmism helps climate denial because it does not provide means for action. It doesn’t provide solutions. It tend to let people look away. They just deny the truth, or think the problem will just go away.
Moreover, if you only give people some shallow advice afterwards like: “you can diminish your carbon emissions by changing your light bulbs into LED.”, it is even undermining the morality and the urgency of the problem. This is like saying to my friend: “Smoking kills. So why don’t you just smoke a little bit less?”
This is too bad, because while reading the IPCC reports and getting acquainted with the complexity of it, I think we have a big, big problem. Having more and more heath waves during summer, with days with 40 °C or more, is really sufferance. And saying: “Après moi, le déluge” (after me, the flood), is in my opinion very narrow-minded.
We really must change!
What to do?
The UK Institute also found out that people are more prone to change and take action if alarmism is combined with a more pragmatic tone that assume ‘it’ll be alright as long as we do something’. It is important to also show people a way out of the dangerous storm. Secondly, they also say that the route to mass behaviour change is when climate-friendly activity is treated as a brand that can be sold. Showing people that climate-friendly activity is actually the new way.
So how can we do this? How can we change? How can we help and really contribute to a Zero-Carbon society?
If we want to do something about anthropogenic climate change and want to do more, instead of just changing our light bulbs at home, we have to start with oneself. We have to make our own Quality Decisions. We can’t just wait until others are doing it for us.
Therefore, I think we can do two important things:
1. Trying to understand the phenomenon. Do not just listen to what politicians and demagogues are shouting, or be content with what some superficial newspapers are writing. Try to investigate it. Study. Dig deeper and try to truly understand anthropogenic climate change and its complexity.
2. Decision-making. Take action to change the current carbon based society. Move it towards a Zero-Carbon society. Taking action might sounds nice to you, but how then helping significantly? I will give you some examples:
- I am diminish my carbon emissions by changing my way of transportation. I don’t have a car anymore. I just take public transport, a bike or a hike. This is the New Cool!
- You can sign the petition and support the European Citizens’ Climate Initiative for putting a price on pollution and giving the returns to households. I signed it.
- Changes in consumption patterns will further reduce CO2 emissions. Reducing the intake of meat could actually be a major contribution to stabilisation of the climate, and it will also improve the health.
- Being aware of the negative impact of aviation, I support the movement Flight Free. This movement is also called We Stay on the Ground. It started in Sweden and is now growing everywhere. Take a look at their website and join them. If it does not yet exist in your own country, why don’t you create one yourself?
There are hundreds of initiatives striving for a Zero-Carbon future, thousands of ways to act. Just do it! Many people say it is not easy. Who said it would be? But isn’t this just part of the fun?
Know this: You are not alone! A lot of people are already doing great things. So, look around, find something, join them and change the system. For the better.
Ah, just one more thing! Put all the negative news aside and do like many others. Get in contact with like-minded people, contribute to a Zero-Carbon society and be an ordinary hero!
[i] Actually, this is wrong. It might be true that Columbo says it in one of the episodes, but the original phrase comes from another police series: Dragnet.
[ii] U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research (2008), Why Weather and Climate Extremes Matter in Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate. Regions of Focus: North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands. Washington, DC
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