I've thought about this a little too, and ultimately I think it comes down to our culture in the US, and the human individual's tendency to view themselves as i

I've thought about this a little too, and ultimately I think it comes down to our culture in the US, and the human individual's tendency to view themselves as inherently good. Most (all?) other countries seem to have accepted climate change as fact, except the US. The culture and way of life of the US is one driven by extreme consumption, sprawl, waste, and cars--the major drivers of climate change. Baby boomers grew up with that way of life, they passed it along to their kids, and (for example) many don't even know what it means to not drive your car to the grocery store. How else would you get food? To step back and say to yourself, "my entire way of life, the only way I've ever known of living, is causing massive destruction" is too much. People can't do it. Individuals all see themselves as inherently good, and to acknowledge that one's very way of life (as opposed to an isolated action, like one day being cranky to a cashier) is causing harm is too self-destructive to the psyche. To accept climate change as real means needing to accept that one's entire way of life has been wrong this entire time. It's much easier to rationalize around reality, than to make serious and sweeping lifestyle and cultural changes. (I can only speak about the US here, though China might possibly have a similar problem; but China acknowledges climate change and their government is taking big steps.) Ultimately this is why I'm growing increasingly pessimistic about climate change. For climate change to be mitigated, the US has to be on board 100%; but the only way we in the US have known how to live since the 20th century started is with unbelievable waste and naked environmental irresponsibility. Changing a whole culture is too slow a process compared to the increasingly fast feedback loops of climate change.