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Climate Denial, Catastrophism, and Learned Helplessness
A sample of headlines from this week:
“World Set for Hottest Month Ever as Climate Change Sears Planet”
“Scientists detect sign that a crucial ocean current is near collapse”
“Dangerous fungus is becoming more prevalent. Scientists believe climate change could be to blame”
“Human-caused climate change is fueling global weather extremes”
“Washington scientist says climate change is creating a world with fewer seabirds”
“Why sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere can’t undo all the effects of climate change.”
If you read the media, then you’ll hear that the Gulf Stream could shut down in two years, plunging Europe into a new Ice Age. That all the coral is going to die.
That the best case scenario is catastrophe and the worst case is extinction. While you will still encounter climate denial, it appears that the dominate mood is climate catastrophism.
Are things really that bad?
Climate Change and Learned Helplessness
So, let’s sidestep into psychology here.
Learned helplessness is a state that occurs when you are repeatedly under stress. We often talk…