Climate "Doomers" believe the world has already lost the battle against global warming
That's wrong - and while that view is spreading online, there are others who are fighting the viral tide.
Facing up to the 'Doomers'
Alaina Wood is a sustainability scientist based in Tennessee.
Alaina makes a habit of challenging climate doomism - a mission she has embraced with a sense of urgency.
"People are giving up on activism because they're like, 'I can't handle it any more... This is too much...' and 'If it really is too late, why am I even trying?'" she says. "Doomism ultimately leads to climate inaction, which is the opposite of what we want."
Climate doomism is the idea that we are past the point of being able to do anything at all about global warming - and that mankind is highly likely to become extinct.
That's wrong, scientists say, but the argument is picking up steam online.
Read more:bbc.com
*(Is Doomism affecting mental health?):
"New poll shows Americans now have doubts on personally affecting climate change"
Fewer Americans now think their actions can influence climate change than they did three years ago, an AP-NORC poll out Monday found
(*The June poll was conducted before Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the most sweeping climate change legislation in U.S. history.)www.axios.com/...
- A majority of Americans, 71%, believe that climate change is occurring and among those who believe climate change is happening, a majority say that it is caused either entirely or mostly by human activity.
lmpact of climate change and heatwaves plus isolation, on mental healthgoogle.com
& google.com
Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room
Ten years ago, psychologists proposed that a wide range of people would suffer anxiety and grief over climate. Skepticism about that idea is gone.
PORTLAND, Ore. — It would hit Alina Black in the snack aisle at Trader Joe’s, a wave of guilt and shame that made her skin crawl.
Something as simple as nuts. They came wrapped in plastic, often in layers of it, that she imagined leaving her house and traveling to a landfill, where it would remain through her lifetime and the lifetime of her children.
nytimes.com
Young people experiencing
'widespread' psychological distress over government handling of looming climate crisis, researchers say
The youth feels a sense of "institutional betrayal" brought on by their leaders
www.wired.com/...
Positive climate stories:
Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to Zero
That’s one of several recent conclusions about climate change that came more sharply into focus
insideclimatenews
.
We Can’t Solve Climate Change. We Can Get It Under Control. www.pbs.org/
.
Federal study: New climate law to slice carbon pollution 40%apnews.com/...
.
Traffic congestion charge would boost air quality in New York City, study finds
Charge of up to $23 a day would reduce number of cars entering Manhattan by 15-20%, assessment says
guardian.com
.
What Could Keep Climate Change From Becoming Catastrophic?
(WIRED’s editor in chief weighs the merits and detriments of carbon capture and storage, plus more thoughts on this month’s headlines.)google
.
Grasslands have the capability to store carbon, functioning as an important tool in a battle against climate change. While scientific interest in grassland soil for carbon sequestration is not new, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Colorado State Universityphys.org/...
*From daily kos:
Noise pollution is an environmental and public health crisis
How to minimize your 'noise footprint':
Noise pollution is an environmental and public health crisis. Here are some simple steps to fight backguardian
from Nature.org:
"The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 4 tons."
About 20% of greenhouse gases
in the US come from homes amp.cnn.com/…
HELP SAVE THE PLANET AND
🌎 OURSELVES:
Turn out the lights when
not in use/use less
- Turn down the heat or AC
- vent out at night if cooler
- Avoid creating nighttime light pollution
- Don’t waste water
- Avoid burning wood (or other things), as wood fires are both pollutant and carcinogenic
- Don't use pesticides
- Limit your use of cars and planes (if possible)
- Don't use gas powered vehicles
- Take out grass and put in a garden or pond (or xeriscape )
- Mow, blow, and whack with electric or by hand
- Plant for the animals (bees, birds etc)
- Plant trees
- Don't micro manage yards, go wilder
- Try to use solar
- Take a bus, trolley or train
- Encourage your city/town to use electric buses
- Use energy efficient products or products that work on clean fuels
- Reduce dependence on non-biodegradable items
- Walk, bike or carpool
- Reuse items- give to Goodwill or Craig's list rather than dumping
- Cut down or cease eating meat
- Use reusable carry bags for grocerie; second choice, paper bags; not plastic
- Compost
- Save the bees
- Be informed
- Write your representative, sign petitions
- Elect pro-environment candidates and demand action
- Support the Green New Deal
- Get involved
- March
- Blog about the environment
- Control population