The Climate Change Panic is Damaging Society.
Extinction Rebellion — “Billions will die”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018 — “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change”
Greta Thunberg — “Around 2030 we will be in a position to set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control that will lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it”
These are some of the many apocalyptic predictions we hear about climate change. They have a real impact. Already here in the UK, we are seeing children suffering from anxiety regarding climate change. In fact it is now being labelled as “eco-anxiety.” Journalists and activists have a moral duty to explain environmental issues in a fair, honest manner even if it goes against the click-bait culture of creating fear. These categorical claims don’t help climate change progression and it only alienates many people. More importantly there is no scientific body which says that climate change threatens the collapse of our civilisation or the human race becoming extinct. These wild climate change claims distract us from current issues that we have a greater ability to fix. As world leaders gather for COP28, we can expect climate change to dominate much of the news cycle for the coming weeks.
The power of economic development is not often discussed in the climate debate. Since 1931, there has been a 99.7% decline in the death toll from natural disasters (in 1931, 3.7million people died from natural disasters whereas in 2018, only 11,000 did). It is worth noting that our global population has also quadrupled.
Sea level. We are seeing estimates that sea levels could rise by 0.6 metres (2 feet) by 2100. To put this in context, a third of the Netherlands lives under sea level with some areas being as low as seven metres. They adapted to living below sea levels over 400 years ago. It is safe to say technology has improved considerably since then so is a rise 0.6 metres apocalyptic?
Crop failure and mass death. This is pure fiction. Humans produce food for more than 10 billion people which is more than we need. Every credible scientific body envisages that we will continue to produce more food with no decline on the horizon. We approximately produce 25% more of food than we need and by 2050 it is expected our crop yields will increase by 30%. Sub-saharan Africa is expected to see its crop yields increase 80%-90% by 2050. This explains why the IPCC expects climate to have little impact on economic growth. They project that the global economy will grow between 300–500% by 2100. Whilst IPCC expects that the warming of temperature will only reduce GDP by 2–5% over that same period.
This climate panic is based on awful science and has generated even worse policy. Across the globe, we spend around £400 billion annually on environmental issues and with the push towards zero carbon emissions, these costs could increase to £10–20 trillion annually. These policies are not going to solve global warming. Money going towards initiatives such as education, nutrition, birth control, infrastructure, access to clean water etc could have a much bigger impact. These areas could increase GDP considerably more than the threats climate change pose in lowering GBP.
We must understand that there is a lot in between climate apocalypse and climate denial.
Disclaimer — I believe human behaviour is having some impact on the environment but not to the extent that the media or society is portraying.