Everybody Has An Opinion

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has been doing opinion surveys to gauge the public's awareness around global warming. Of course the media is a joke when it comes to informing the public and schools are a joke when it comes to education, but I also think the opinion poll reflects the failure of the climate movement to get a coherent message out. It also captures the nihilistic truth that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is the end of capitalism.

For instance, according to the latest survey, 39% think there is at least a 50% chance warming will cause human extinction. Think about that. Every morning four in ten people in the US get up and go about their daily activities believing the chances are Even Steven their progeny will be wiped out by the lifestyle they enjoy today. And yet only 22% say they are "very worried" about it. 63% say they are "somewhat worried". WTF is "somewhat worried"? I guess it means people are generally able to block it from their consciousness or that they have made their peace with the fact or psychosis keeps them from connecting the dots...

22% say humans are unwilling to change behavior, which is a pessimistic view of the species but also a naive understanding of how power works in society. You don't get to wake up one day and say "Forget the car, I'm going to walk to work!" but even if you made that your personal mission, it wouldn't save the planet. The behavior you have to change is your fear of struggle.

30% still believe the warming is due to something called "natural changes"(?), so that behavior has nothing to do with it. 32% believe it is an equal mix of human activities and "natural changes" and 19% were unsure if warming was actually happening. Many of these same people are "unsure" if Africa is a country or a continent and exactly what the difference would be.

My point is, the climate movement as such needs to get behind some simple, unequivocal messaging about the crisis, to coalesce around one narrative and not deviate. Each day that goes by with economic growth as a social good decreases our chance exponentially of digging out of the hole and saving something worthwhile.