Nicky Hawkins: It’s time to change the climate disaster script. People need hope that things can change
In recent months,
Extinction Rebellion and the school climate strike have turned up the heat on
the climate debate. They’ve both done an astonishing job of getting the climate
change back on the public and political agendas. Their warnings of impending
apocalypse, disruptive tactics and robust demands that others “tell the truth”
about climate change have made huge waves. Parliament has declared a climate emergency. The Guardian has updated its own
editorial guidelines to use language that accurately reflects the threat that climate
change poses.
These demands and
promises to tell the truth are based on a core premise: if people knew how bad
this was we’d do differently. My organisation studies how we respond to and are
shaped by the stories the we hear. I welcome the renewed energy within the
climate movement – and the recognition of the power of language. But I fear we
risk underplaying the part of “the truth” that could set us free. Most people in the UK
know climate change is a big problem. We understand it poses a grave threat to
the future of our world. But we’re not trying to save ourselves – at least,
we’re not trying hard enough.
Communications science
offers some clues as to why we might be locked in this collective paralysis –
somewhat able to see the problem but unable to deal with it. Our brains are
hardwired to jump to conclusions without us noticing we’re doing it. When faced
with serious and complex challenges such as climate change, we jump to “can’t
be done” more readily than “let’s work through this problem and see the
solutions”. While bleak, “nothing can be done” is a more rewarding conclusion
because it’s quicker and easier to think.
The tendency to think fatalistically
is fuelled by the stories we hear every day. The word “crisis” appears in our
media dozens of times each week, appended to everything from poverty to
patisseries, climate change to chick peas. It is background noise. Stating
loudly that problems exist and have reached crisis point does not help us to
move beyond said crises, especially if they are hard to understand and tough to
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