Katharine Hayhoe: The idea that more worry at the global scale will catalyze action is extremely widespread--but untrue, according to social science; and I think it's critical to understand why. I recommend reading: www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyo... then watching this recent talk I gave on this topic:

Why would some climate scientists spend more or as much time on debunking conservative estimates (what they often refer to as doom-mongering) of global warming, as on flat-out denial of climate change? Are they as afraid if we worry too much we'll do nothing, compared to if we don't worry at all?

The idea that more worry at the global scale will catalyze action is extremely widespread--but untrue, according to social science; and I think it's critical to understand why. I recommend reading: www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyo... then watching this recent talk I gave on this topic:

Katharine Hayhoe: Talking Climate - How to Catalyze Change in a Warming Worldwww.youtube.com This year has been marked by record-breaking weather and climate extremes. Its relentless heatwaves, uncontrollable wildfires and unprecedented floods are fu...

As this article says, "Doom + gloom messaging was highly effective for stimulating information sharing, like posting on social media, where negativity reigns. However, it was the absolute worst for motivating action. In fact, -ve emotions made people significantly less likely to take action." !!!

How to talk about climate change and the problem with doomerismwww.resilience.org Should we be yelling that the sky is falling at every chance? Or might that paralyze us into inaction, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Thanks for responding! Our failure to see big risks of systemic failure due to the polycrisis we're in, troubles me. Climate change is but one of the many "moles" in this whac-a-mole game. Solution through incremental change won't cut it, and system change seems to scare more than system failure.

Absolutely! I just gave two talks over the last week alone on the confluence between pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and inequity.

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