Denial is over. Climate change is happening. But why do we still act like it’s not?

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 19:23:52 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/denial-is-over-climate-change-is-happening-but-why-do-we-still-act-like-its-not-212531>

"Climate-fuelled disaster is now front-page news, as record-breaking floods,
fires, droughts and storms keep arriving.

The damage done by climate change is systemic and pervasive, resonating through
our communities, economies and environments. It manifests in many ways, from
empty spaces in supermarket shelves to houses left unlivable after floods,
anxious communities, collapsing ecosystems and emergency services stretched to
capacity.

Climate researchers initially assumed that if you gave people the right
information, we would act on it. Burning fossil fuels comes with severe
consequences – so let’s phase out fossil fuels. But they found out very quickly
this was not the case.

For many people, it triggered cognitive dissonance, where they knew climate
change was happening but acted like it wasn’t. After all, many people still
smoke, even though they know it is bad for their health. And many of us still
fly to Italy – even though we know how many extra tonnes of carbon dioxide we
put into the atmosphere.

But why is it so easy to understand but not act?"

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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