What do Saddam Hussein’s information minister and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board have in common? Hint: it starts with a “d,” ends with “enial,” and isn’t just a river in Egypt. A new and virulent strain of climate denial could be called “doomer shaming.” Instead of acknowledging how logical it is to be distressed about the state of the climate (and the pitiful worldwide political response), delusional boosters of the status quo would rather belittle people who worry about rising temperatures, wildfires, super-storms, and ecosystem breakdown. Jason, Rob, Asher, and Melody consider how to manage climate anxiety and use it in service of caring for planet Earth.
Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.
References:
- Video of Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf, aka Baghdad Bob
- Allysia Finley wrote this Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Climate Change Obsession Is a Real Mental Disorder”
- Nature article dismissed by Finley
- Lancet article dismissed by Finley
- Rebuttal written by PCI Advisor Leslie Davenport and published in the Wall Street Journal
- Rebecca Solnit’s article in The Guardian, “We Can’t Afford to Be Climate Doomers.”
- Survey on climate distress by the Yale Program on Climate Communication
- Gen Dread newsletter on climate distress
- Climate Psychology Alliance
- Good Grief Network
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