Apocalypse no: Dialing down the doom
There’s a lot of doom in the air lately. It’s not hard to see why. Our latest UN climate?projection?has the planet hurtling towards a catastrophic 2.7 degrees of warming over pre-industrial levels. That means deadly heatwaves, crop failures, widespread famine, and disease. Not exactly uplifting, is it??
This week, all eyes will be on world leaders as they gather for the?COP26?UN climate summit in Glasgow. To avert disaster, they must?commit?to bold and urgent changes. Yet while it’s crucial that we face facts, it’s just as vital we don’t lose heart. There is still hope. We still have time to act.
Some want us to believe otherwise. The same voices that until recently were telling us climate change was a hoax?are now insisting?it’s too late to do anything about it. Let’s be clear. The science doesn’t back that up. If we act now, if we act together, we can still avoid climate catastrophe.
Doomism is just one of a?host of new tactics?adopted by the forces of inaction. Having largely abandoned outright climate change denial,?in the face of overwhelming evidence, pedlars of?climate disinformation?have turned to other methods to delay efforts to decarbonize the global economy.
Prominent climatologist Michael E Mann, himself the target of vicious smear campaigns,?has written a book?in which he argues these “inactivists” are deceiving and distracting the public in a coordinated disinformation campaign similar to?that seen during the pandemic.?
The tactics are certainly familiar, and it’s not just doomism.?Analysis?by our partner, First Draft News, showed that climate disinformation was being shared widely on a range of platforms. From?emotive memes?ridiculing activists, to misleading or divisive posts seeking to confuse and deflect attention.?
Luckily, we are?constantly improving?our understanding of how to tackle these methods. At the United Nations, my team and I have been working with social impact agency?Purpose?on a cure?for the?infodemic, the flood of false information spread online during the pandemic.?
Together we explored ways to?encourage conscious sharing, cut through dangerous noise on social media and flood feeds with reliable, accurate information, in shareable nuggets. The same tactics can be applied to climate disinformation. We have already seen some encouraging signs of change.
Recent?welcome moves?saw Google and YouTube ban ads and monetization of content denying the existence and causes of climate change, while Facebook has?committed?to flagging climate misinformation on its platform. Much more must be done to enforce these rules. But they’re a start.?
As for the doomism, I’m convinced us communicators need a shift of tone. Few people now deny the planet is warming (though?shocking numbers?apparently still reject the link to human activity). The time for focusing on the problems is over. Now is the time to galvanize audiences for change.
The only way to do this is by?offering hope. Storytelling?focused on solutions, that highlights and celebrates people and places doing the right thing can empower audiences to look beyond messages of impending doom and see we have the tools and knowledge to secure a livable future.???
Dialing down the doom doesn’t mean ignoring the peril. Far more it means?telling stories?of how much we’ve already achieved, from eradicating acid rain to phasing out ozone-depleting CFCs, to progress in the renewable energy revolution, developing electric cars and meat alternatives.?
So, during the summit and beyond, let’s work to keep hope alive. Let’s act as a bulwark against the doom-mongers, those who seek to divide us, or distract us. A livable future is within our grasp, but we must fight for it. Whatever has gone before, the fight begins again here, now. It is not too late.
Consultant Lecturer at NMIT, Wintec and others
3 年Melissa Fleming Petteri Taalas, https://www.netzerowatch.com/wmo-secretary-general-warns-against-climate-doomsters-and-extremists/ , of the WMO also a UN affiliate organization, viewed and described "doomsters" as extremists and threat makers. He specifically attached this doomster label to these extremists, not the board scatter gun of attribution your article uses in an attempt to impugn credible scientific enquiry. A characteristic of the doomsters, if you need some form of easy identification , the frequent and liberal use of monosyllabic profanity in the discussion, for example ; https://lnkd.in/gyxHJuv8 https://lnkd.in/g_B8GEiS https://lnkd.in/gXPF5tSt . You quote "Doomism is just one of a?host of new tactics?adopted by the forces of inaction." This statement of belief is demonstrably incorrect in the extreme, Sceptics and Luke warmers have absolutely no vision of any doom like outcome from weather variations, their whole premise has been, is, and will continue to be, that the effects of a slight rise of anthropogenic CO2 are wholly beneficial, and basically masked by measurement noise of the planetary weather system, to wit https://www.amazon.com/Fake-Invisible-Catastrophes-Threats-Doom/dp/B08TFYJFMR as an irrefutable confirmation of my statement to you. That you can imagine that the entire effort of skepticism and luke-warmism, as they are labeled by AGW believers such as your self, as based on visions of doom as an argument to inaction and acceptance of inevitability, is a completely false attribution and an example of how out of touch with reality and science your perception of this issue is. From a member of the public , uninformed and mischievous distortions like this, are quaint proclivities of the free choice of belief, but as a Senior Communications official of the UN itself such opinion appears to be a blatant misuse of both your office and authority. kind regards
Contemplating what to do next as we head towards breakdown and societal collapse
3 年Melissa Fleming - not everyone who fails to share your hopium is on the side of climate denial. Some are allies in the fight for mitigating harm. Excessive hope in the face of our predicament risks greater harm - for some of us, facing the reality of our situation is the catalyst for action. While many in senior positions speak of hope (against all evidence of the last 30 years of inaction) it lulls many into a false sense of security that there’s still X years to solve #climatechange. With UN funding recently shifting from predominantly mitigation to a more balanced spoilt between mitigation/adaptation, isn’t it time for senior leaders like yourself to #TellTheTruth and highlight that elites are not going to save us - we must #ActNow and #RebelForLife and do what is necessary?
Sustainability Strategist: Helping companies transform their business to operate within planetary boundaries.
3 年Thanks Melissa Fleming for communicating this conundrum so clearly, and shining the light on Michael Mann's recent excellent book. For me, it really exposed the strength of the "inactivists" who are also often well-meaning media professionals that have too much ingrained scepticism and are wedded to schools of thought based on the status quo. We need to create tipping points of bold & creative action, not run around in circles on why a transition won't be possible with today's usual toolbox of solutions.
UNHCR Retiree and Independent Humanitarian Consultant at Independent
3 年Excellent Melissa! Well said!! Let’s us not allow the ‘doom mongers’ divide the world! We can still act for the good of all of humanity by being responsible ourselves to avoid a climate catastrophe. An inventory of ‘do’s and don’ts’ might be helpful for individuals to respect and follow.
Combining technology, innovation and partnerships to meet global sustainability challenges and create impact at scale
3 年Great insights which support collective climate action now. Thank you Melissa Fleming