Why Climate Change is Solvable

Amidst record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires, a global pandemic, floods, hurricanes, and ice caps melting at an accelerated pace it is easy to get caught up in the wave of doom-porn surrounding climate change that seems to be sweeping the Internet these days. I recently read an article entitled “Want to Stop Climate Change? Get a New Job!” in which the author argues that none of the current solutions including degrowth, carbon taxes, minimalism, veganism, and population reduction, among others will work because they require people to choose against their desires and they require leaders to ris

e above the system to make changes that are good for the planet. The author argues that the only way to solve climate change is for all of us to get new jobs that create renewable energy, otherwise, we are all part of the problem. Others take a more fatalistic point of view. For example in an article for the New Yorker, author Jonathan Franzen said “We literally are living in end times for civilization as we know it… We are long past the point of averting climate catastrophe.” So is all of this doom and gloom warranted? Yes, we are facing some extreme challenges and things are likely to get

worse before they get better, but are we as Franzen says “Living in the end of times?” In this article, I argue that climate doomism is overly simplistic, unscientific, and based on suppositions, no

t facts or data. It also shows a lack of understanding of the complexity of climate change and a lack of acknowledgment of the solutions being implemented and the changes that are occurring. According to Michael E. Mann, arguably the most prominent climate scientist on the planet, “If the science objectively demonstrated it was too late to limit warming below catastrophic levels, that would be one thing and we scientists would be faithful to that. But science doesn’t say that.” Climate Doomism Climate doomisim is just as bad as denialism as it leads to inaction. After all, what’s the point in eating less meat, flying less, or taking public transport if our demise is imminent? We might as well throw a giant house party in one last hurrah if we are going the way of the dodo bird anyway. W

hile I am not saying that extinction isn’t a possibility, if we do nothing, the likelihood goes from a possibility to an inevitability if we sit around saying “we’re all doomed.” Subscribing to this fatalistic view also leads to anxiety, and an anxious mind has a harder time solving problems. Climate doom doesn’t make you smart, it doesn’t make you cool, it makes you an even bigger part of the problem. Because it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t you’re right.” If you spend enough time with a climate doomer, their attitude will infect you as well, this is known as emotional contagion, and left unchecked it can spread like a virus, and lead to climate apathy. Solutions Evolve Reducing meat consumption, popul

ation reduction, carbon taxes, minimalism, and degrowth are not meant to be stand-alone solutions to climate change. Rather they are meant to be contributing factors to solving a very big and complex puzzle. Implementing them will buy us time until new technology, changes in social norms, and a better understanding of how nature works can offer us more complete solutions.