This is a great article that describes how the , as
@teachercd describes them, “enviro bros” have done a disservice to the issues.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/12/04/why-climate-alarmism-hurts-us-all/
We aren’t all going to die from heat and drought. But eventually we are going to have to face a lot of changes and expenses.
This has always been the issue and it is remarkable that none of these people learn.
From the article:
“As important as your cause is,”
said Jeffrey in one of the videos, an open letter to Extinction Rebellion, “your persistent exaggeration of the facts has the potential to do more harm than good to the scientific credibility of your cause as well as to the psychological well-being of my generation.”
Also
Why There’s No Apocalypse in Science
In my
last column, I pointed out that there is no scientific basis for claims that climate change will be apocalyptic, and argued that environmental journalists and climate activists alike have an obligation to separate fact from fiction.
If you haven’t read
that column yet, I hope you do so before continuing.
Part of what inspired me to write that column is that I am concerned by the rising eco-anxiety among young people. My daughter is 14 years old. While she herself is not scared, in part because I have explained the science to her, she told me many of her peers are.
In 2017, the American Psychological Association diagnosed rising eco-anxiety and called it “
a chronic fear of environmental doom.”
Studies from
around the world document growing anxiety and depression, particularly among children, about climate change.
“One of my friends was convinced there would be a collapse of society in 2030 and ‘near term human extinction’ in 2050,” said Jeffrey. “She concluded that we’ve got ten years left to live.”
