Rise of the climate optimists, pushing back against gloom
There鈥檚 a sense of calmness in rural Iowa. Its beauty isn鈥檛 lost on Marcy Franck.
But the beautiful vastness of corn and soybean fields across the horizon isn鈥檛 what sticks with Ms. Franck each time she pays a visit to her聽parents-in-law聽in the Midwest. Rather, it鈥檚 the wind turbines she sees in the distance. It鈥檚 the thought of how the machines鈥� gently rotating blades generate clean energy destined to travel across the region, and into peoples鈥� lives.
It鈥檚 the fact of progress in innovation.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAgainst a backdrop of dark or doom-filled outlooks regarding climate change, a rising movement seeks to emphasize hope without sugarcoating the crisis.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e an emblem of hope and our future,鈥� Ms. Franck says.
Ms. Franck fashions herself as a prophet of optimism 鈥� by job title as well as by her approach to life in聽what many call the Anthropocene, an epoch of human dominance over the planet. She is the author of 聽newsletter from the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard University鈥檚 T.H. Chan School of Public Health.听
She鈥檚 part of a growing movement of thought leaders who are opting to focus their attention on the positives in humankind鈥檚 effort to address climate change.听Their message is not just that progress is happening, but also that hope is a crucial enabler of it. Without some focus on hope, the daunting scale of the climate problem can too easily lead toward doomerism, depression, and inaction.听
鈥淏eing optimistic and having hope, I think, is a practice where you can recenter, focus on the things that are going right, and focus on the solutions that are already taking hold,鈥� Ms. Franck says.
While hard to measure, climate optimism in the United States has become more visible in the past few years. In part it鈥檚 a response to pessimism, to a rising sense of feeling either overwhelmed or powerless 鈥� that there鈥檚 nothing humanity can do.听
One sign of the times: In a 10-nation published in the health journal The Lancet, 59% of young people age 16 to 25 said they are extremely or very worried about climate change.听Confronted with this, the optimists are not dismissing the urgency but arguing that action can make a difference 鈥� and that sometimes alarmism has been counterproductive.
Voicing hope, acknowledging anxiety
So, for Ms. Franck, some of her newsletters deal head-on with topics like how to maintain poise amid 鈥渢he emotional roulette wheel of climate change鈥� while others have pointed to 鈥渃limate things going right.鈥澛�
Other examples of the trend: The book 鈥�,鈥� new this year from researcher Britt Wray, tackles how people can strengthen their resilience in the face of eco-anxiety.听听补苍诲听聽are working to counter pessimism, as are bloggers聽听补苍诲听聽the environmental realm.
Meanwhile, an initiative called聽聽is backed by 海角大神a Figueres, the former United Nations climate official who helped broker the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate, seeking to convey that the climate crisis is both daunting and 鈥渃onquerable.鈥�
Scientists too are pushing back against the notion of a point-of-no-return for the planet.听
鈥淲e are not through a threshold or past the threshold,鈥� University of Maine climate scientist Jacquelyn Gill earlier this year. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as pass-fail when it comes to the climate crisis.鈥�
Some who track the climate issue say optimists are meeting a genuine need.
If we鈥檙e to collectively face the threat of climate change as a whole, 鈥渢he thinking is that if I can show you a future you want to aspire to, I will unleash your creative energies, and you will strive towards the best,鈥� says Dr. Andrew Hoffman, a professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan and the author of 鈥淗ow Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate.鈥�
鈥淧eople should understand the consequences鈥� of global warming, Dr. Hoffman adds, but they can鈥檛 stop there. To truly understand is to 鈥渢ake a look at all the possibilities.鈥�
Even as signs of the climate challenge mount, there are indications that innovation is opening new doors and that people can act effectively when they feel agency.
In California, consumers recently saved the state from blackouts during a severe heat wave by responding to an official appeal to curb their energy consumption.听聽
In July, Texas faced a similar situation. Not only were citizens called into action, the state鈥檚 renewable energy sector was also able to step up its production. Data released by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas noted how solar plants provided an additional 8 gigawatts of power to the grid at peak temperatures, contributing 9% more power than the state agency had expected.
Successes such as these, however modest, should be noted more widely, researchers say. Because to take a fatalistic approach is 鈥渢o risk people throwing up their hands in the air and not doing anything,鈥� says Christopher Barile, a researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno. He recently on why scientists must remain optimistic in combating climate change.
Hope may be a boost not just for climate action but also for people鈥檚 individual wellness, judging by .听
鈥淲e can actually solve this problem鈥�
As optimism tussles with doubts in public thought, the question looms: Can we define the climate crisis before it defines us?
Millions of people are already being displaced each year by extreme weather-related events. Humanity is having to focus on adapting to climate change, alongside efforts to stabilize Earth鈥檚 temperatures by curbing greenhouse emissions.
Still, Dr. Barile says big ideas and action are not just needed but possible.听
鈥淭he fact is, we can actually solve this problem,鈥� he says.
The Inflation Reduction Act recently signed by President Joe Biden, which authorizes $369 billion in energy and climate spending, is a step in the right direction, climate policy experts say.听
The elegance of turbines across the wide Iowa horizon is another example.
It鈥檚 in those moments that Ms. Franck, 鈥淭he Climate Optimist鈥� newsletter author, sees an opportunity to take stock in our shared success.听聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 human nature to focus on the problem,鈥� she says.听
鈥淏ut it feels so much better to focus on the solution.鈥�
