7 ms·

I simply fail to understand how, despite the rising mountain of evidence, some people still are able to deny the reality of the climate crisis we're facing. Ev

by esarbe 7y ago

I simply fail to understand how, despite the rising mountain of evidence, some people still are able to deny the reality of the climate crisis we're facing. Even if you have ideological or economical reasons for wanting to believe the climate crisis to be a hoax - at one point or another the drive for self-preservation simply has to kick in, doesn't it? Ever and ever again when I see some new dire study about how our predatory exploitation of our ecological support system is degrading its capability to actually support us, I think to myself: "This is it. Now they just have to finally start supporting measures to stop killing ourselves." But I always get disappointed - there are still way too many people that absolutely fail to grasp how terminal a situation we're rushing into. The human capability for self-deception is truly amazing.

Justsignedup 7y ago
The answers are quite sad but simple. We rely on a thing. As a society our entire society is built around it. Regardless of why. We later find out that thing is bad. Lots of rich people will lose money and entire cultures have to change. This won't work. Deny. If the problem will hit us in 50 years then we can procrastinate till we're dead. Then someone else will panic and deal with it. The problem is there's no easy solution to this. None. It all takes decades to have an effect. And thus the problem.
caust1c 7y ago
I'm not sure there have been any studies on it but it makes sense that cognitive dissonance in humans would be a genetic advantage over other species. It allows us to acknowledge unfortunate truths like death and existentialism without driving us to insanity. My personal cognitive dissonance is the optimism that we'll at least be able to slow climate change despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. If I lose that optimism, I would enter a very dark place in my own mind.
Gravityloss 7y ago
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair The whole climate denialism machine utilizes the same mechanisms and even the same people as the tobacco one before it.
vaylian 7y ago
> Even if you have ideological or economical reasons for wanting to believe the climate crisis to be a hoax - at one point or another the drive for self-preservation simply has to kick in, doesn't it? Eventually it will happen. But then it might already be too late. People live in their filter bubbles and these can be really hard to burst. Especially, when you deal with ideology and an us-versus-them mentality, where the opposite party is for climate protection and you are in the climate change hoax camp.
nesky 7y ago
If it's not happening in my back yard then it can't possibly be happening anywhere else. That's the level of delusion we're dealing with.
trentnix 7y ago
It's really pretty simple - the prognosticators of doom have a very poor track record. I posted this elsewhere in the thread, so apologize for the spam for any readers who saw it twice: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyp... Personally, I don't believe climate change is a hoax. There's ample evidence indicating climate change is real. But I am certainly convinced climate crisis is mostly nonsense. And I believe most "solutions" proposed are an antithesis to individual liberty. And thus, statements like this one you made, from my point-of-view, are mostly hysterical: Ever and ever again when I see some new dire study about how our predatory exploitation of our ecological support system is degrading its capability to actually support us, I think to myself: "This is it. Now they just have to finally start supporting measures to stop killing ourselves." But I always get disappointed - there are still way too many people that absolutely fail to grasp how terminal a situation we're rushing into.
- meagain3 7y ago
  Thank you very much for this very valuable link
- ianleeclark 7y ago
  > And I believe most "solutions" proposed are an antithesis to individual liberty. I think this is the most telling answer any of us, who stand mouth agape at the inaction, will ever receive: rather than join together in any semblance of community to overcome a common problem, we have to walk headfirst into knowable horrors, so that some can continue with their myth of individual liberty. All I can think of is the past few weeks where posters here on HN quickly wrote off any mention of covid-19 being anything worse than the common flu that no one ought to worry too much about it.
  - fanatic2pope 7y ago
    The covid crisis is climate change set to fast forward. The laughable CEI types who decry "prognosticators of doom" will be the toilet paper hoarders of climate change, angrily demanding government bailouts as the ripple effects of decreased global productivity and increased instability bite.
hatenberg 7y ago
Have you looked at the response to the virus? Same deal really - we are so comfy deluding ourselves, have so very much forgotten that we are subject to the laws of nature, we have become unable to reject the delusions of infinite growth, infinite resources, perpetually funded pension systems - all pyramid schemes of lies perpetuated for generations now. Covid19 is running for president by sending a reminder that reality still exists, outside of our carefully constructed fantasy of an economy and society.
ewfwfewefewfwef 7y ago
Weather is so big that I, a small human, don't have any influence. My actions have no impact on the sky.
perfunctory 7y ago
> But I always get disappointed ... The best cure for disappointment and despair is action. Go out, join like-minded people, and rebel.
- esarbe 7y ago
  In three weeks we're having an Extinction Rebellion Exhibition next to our local grocery store where we sell cakes and cookies and show how much the local fauna and flora has suffered in the last 50 years. We will also feature a list of five local species that have gone extinct in the last 20 years. We try to keep it 'local' so people realize that it actually concerns them.

by esarbe 7y ago

Justsignedup 7y ago

The answers are quite sad but simple. We rely on a thing. As a society our entire society is built around it. Regardless of why. We later find out that thing is bad. Lots of rich people will lose money and entire cultures have to change. This won't work. Deny. If the problem will hit us in 50 years then we can procrastinate till we're dead. Then someone else will panic and deal with it. The problem is there's no easy solution to this. None. It all takes decades to have an effect. And thus the problem.

caust1c 7y ago

I'm not sure there have been any studies on it but it makes sense that cognitive dissonance in humans would be a genetic advantage over other species. It allows us to acknowledge unfortunate truths like death and existentialism without driving us to insanity. My personal cognitive dissonance is the optimism that we'll at least be able to slow climate change despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. If I lose that optimism, I would enter a very dark place in my own mind.

Gravityloss 7y ago

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair The whole climate denialism machine utilizes the same mechanisms and even the same people as the tobacco one before it.

vaylian 7y ago

> Even if you have ideological or economical reasons for wanting to believe the climate crisis to be a hoax - at one point or another the drive for self-preservation simply has to kick in, doesn't it? Eventually it will happen. But then it might already be too late. People live in their filter bubbles and these can be really hard to burst. Especially, when you deal with ideology and an us-versus-them mentality, where the opposite party is for climate protection and you are in the climate change hoax camp.

nesky 7y ago

If it's not happening in my back yard then it can't possibly be happening anywhere else. That's the level of delusion we're dealing with.

trentnix 7y ago

It's really pretty simple - the prognosticators of doom have a very poor track record. I posted this elsewhere in the thread, so apologize for the spam for any readers who saw it twice: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-failed-eco-pocalyp... Personally, I don't believe climate change is a hoax. There's ample evidence indicating climate change is real. But I am certainly convinced climate crisis is mostly nonsense. And I believe most "solutions" proposed are an antithesis to individual liberty. And thus, statements like this one you made, from my point-of-view, are mostly hysterical: Ever and ever again when I see some new dire study about how our predatory exploitation of our ecological support system is degrading its capability to actually support us, I think to myself: "This is it. Now they just have to finally start supporting measures to stop killing ourselves." But I always get disappointed - there are still way too many people that absolutely fail to grasp how terminal a situation we're rushing into.

meagain3 7y ago
Thank you very much for this very valuable link
ianleeclark 7y ago
> And I believe most "solutions" proposed are an antithesis to individual liberty. I think this is the most telling answer any of us, who stand mouth agape at the inaction, will ever receive: rather than join together in any semblance of community to overcome a common problem, we have to walk headfirst into knowable horrors, so that some can continue with their myth of individual liberty. All I can think of is the past few weeks where posters here on HN quickly wrote off any mention of covid-19 being anything worse than the common flu that no one ought to worry too much about it.
- fanatic2pope 7y ago
  The covid crisis is climate change set to fast forward. The laughable CEI types who decry "prognosticators of doom" will be the toilet paper hoarders of climate change, angrily demanding government bailouts as the ripple effects of decreased global productivity and increased instability bite.

hatenberg 7y ago

Have you looked at the response to the virus? Same deal really - we are so comfy deluding ourselves, have so very much forgotten that we are subject to the laws of nature, we have become unable to reject the delusions of infinite growth, infinite resources, perpetually funded pension systems - all pyramid schemes of lies perpetuated for generations now. Covid19 is running for president by sending a reminder that reality still exists, outside of our carefully constructed fantasy of an economy and society.

ewfwfewefewfwef 7y ago

Weather is so big that I, a small human, don't have any influence. My actions have no impact on the sky.

perfunctory 7y ago

> But I always get disappointed ... The best cure for disappointment and despair is action. Go out, join like-minded people, and rebel.

esarbe 7y ago
In three weeks we're having an Extinction Rebellion Exhibition next to our local grocery store where we sell cakes and cookies and show how much the local fauna and flora has suffered in the last 50 years. We will also feature a list of five local species that have gone extinct in the last 20 years. We try to keep it 'local' so people realize that it actually concerns them.