July has been confirmed as the hottest month on record. It certainly didn’t feel that way in London: grey autumnal raininess characterised the month, and now the typical August malaise has fully settled in. But such is the nature of the climate crisis: heatwaves may have ravaged Europe but the weather, writ large, is seemingly more mercurial than ever. The tragic irony of global warming is that it gifted us in England and Ireland with a particularly dreary summer.
The stories of the climate crisis are all too familiar to us now: fires consume Californian forests and the Australian outback, floods devastated Pakistan early this year, in London protesters deface buildings in the name of eco-anxiety, in Ireland farmers gather in their thousands in defiance of environment policy. And all this time Greta Thunberg laments that the world is burning and that no one cares to do anything about it. Young people are increasingly crippled with thoughts of a totally doomed future.
No wonder. The news cycle is oppressive and naturally focused on the negative . And eco-rhetoric has taken on a rather Christian flair. We are facing eternal damnation. Fossil fuel companies’ sin is greed; our support for the dairy and meat industry is borne out of gluttony; the West’s inaction on the whole thing is driven by sloth. Warnings of the ensuing apocalypse dominate Extinction Rebellion’s marches. Protesters throw soup on Van Gogh, asking the pretend-profound question: “art or life, which is worth more?”
This kind of despair may be a natural response. But it is not an effective mode for inspiring action. Environmental protesters suggest the problem is so severe that nothing less than large-scale political revolution can mitigate the consequences – Thunberg herself claimed only the overthrow of the “whole capitalist system” will ameliorate the damage wrought to the planet. Meanwhile, Extinction Rebellion reaches absurd conclusions – calling for the UK to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
[ Extinction Rebellion: Inside the Irish branch of the movementOpens in new window ]
We are left in a strange place. One group advocates for radical and fundamental change to the way everyone lives – from our economic structures to our basic social systems. And the other – usually young – is paralysed by fear that the world is burning and there is no recourse. Both of these impulses – hysteria or despondency – are unhelpful. It is obviously true that the climate poses a serious existential threat. But, it is hardly fair to suggest – as Thunberg and her supporters do – that mainstream western politicians are neither cognisant of the scale or the crisis nor interested in addressing it. And, itching for full-scale societal upheaval is unlikely to provoke necessary technological progress.
This kind of climate anxiety – whether it generates revolutionary zeal or despondent nihilism – is not a good organising principle for politics. Meanwhile, cautious optimism has never been a bad approach.
Of course it is no good to pretend climate change is not an urgent problem. But it is probably worse to suggest that it is an insurmountable one
There are some basic realities we can remind ourselves of: renewable energy generated more electricity than fossil fuels across Europe in 2022; in Ireland 39 per cent of electricity came from renewable sources; last year global spending on carbon-free energy was more than $1 trillion; the price of solar and wind has simultaneously fallen steeply; and deforestation is in decline. None of this is to suggest the problem is solved or close to being solved. Instead, it is to remember that it is frankly dishonest to suggest governments are not acting. US, UK, Irish and EU policy – to name a few examples – suggest otherwise. Bullish outliers and loud climate deniers are unhelpful exceptions to the rule.
Belief in human ingenuity is a powerful motivator. And if we zoom out and look at the long arc of history we can see man’s infinite capacity to problem solve. Electric cars are not yet perfected but they indicate our desire to head in the right direction; we have turned the tide on AIDs; in fact we have turned the tide on child mortality and millions of deaths by preventable diseases; the Covid-19 vaccine was developed far quicker than many pessimists thought possible.
None of this was inevitable, and certainly was not borne out of complacency. It required concerted effort, global collaboration, huge investment, a lot of head scratching. But it was all achieved by an instinct for survival and general resilience. It seems strange to suggest that these human qualities apply in, say, the development of the Covid vaccine but somehow will fail to apply to fighting the climate crisis. If anything, the greater the scale of the challenge, the more effective our response might be.
Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the pervasive anxiety that is so troubling – that is a natural response to a threat. Rather, we should worry about a generalised disposition to believe that everything is worse than it is. Of course it is no good to pretend climate change is not an urgent problem. But it is probably worse to suggest that it is an insurmountable one. Relentless fixation on the bad weather won’t save anyone. Faith in human brilliance will.