Climate scientist Bill McGuire writes on his conundrum: What’s happening to our planet scares the hell out of him—but if he shouts the unvarnished truth from the rooftops, will that inspire you to act or to give up?
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Are you frightened by climate change? Do you worry about what sort of world we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren? In
the words of science writer and author of “The Uninhabitable Earth” David Wallace-Wells, “No matter how well informed you are, you are surely not alarmed enough.”
I would put it even more strongly.
If the fracturing of our once stable climate doesn’t terrify you, then you don’t fully understand it. The reality is that, as far as we know, and in the natural course of events, our world has never — in its entire history — heated up as rapidly as it is doing now. Nor have greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere ever seen such a precipitous hike.
Think about that for a moment. We’re experiencing, in our lifetimes, a heating episode that is probably unique in the last 4.6
billion years.
A major psychological study, published by the scientific journal
Lancet Planetary Health in 2021, found that most 16–25 year olds in 10 countries across the globe were moderately to extremely worried about climate change, but more than half felt overwhelmed and powerless to act. It would seem reasonable to argue, on this basis, that painting an even worse picture wouldn’t help. But if this is the case, does it mean we shouldn’t provide people with the full facts if they are too scary? Surely not.
In fact, this isn’t a matter of scaring or not scaring people, but of informing them. As a climate scientist, it is my duty to tell you about what is happening to our world, whether it engenders fear or not.
A failure to do this will mean that the public is left ignorant of the true extent of the climate emergency, which in turn can only hinder engagement and action.
The truth is that people
can take being scared if they know there is still hope and that they can do something to make things better, or at least stop things getting worse.