"Mainstream scientists are at risk of becoming the new climate deniers"

[Gaia]

I keep hearing them yell at us: "Stop being a doomer! You have to give people hope!"

To which I respond with what Greta Thunberg says: "I don't want your hope. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act!"

Along those lines, I strongly recommend this thought-provoking essay in which climate campaigner Jonathon Porritt highlights a concerning trend among mainstream climate scientists: by perpetually emphasizing positivity and hope, they inadvertently risk assuming the role of the new climate deniers.

Here is a brief summary:

1. The speed with which the climate is now changing is faster than (almost) all scientists thought possible.

2. There is now zero prospect of holding the average temperature increase this century to below 1.5°C; even 2°C is beginning to slip out of reach. The vast majority of climate scientists know this, but rarely if ever give voice to this critically important reality.

3. At the same time, the vast majority of people still haven’t a clue about what’s going on – and what this means for them and everything they hold dear.

4. The current backlash against existing (already wholly inadequate) climate measures is also accelerating – and will cause considerable political damage in 2024. Those driving this backlash represent the same old climate denial that has been so damaging over so many years.

5. The science-based institutions on which we depend to address this crisis have comprehensively failed us. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is incapable of telling the whole truth about accelerating climate change; the Conference of the Parties (under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) has been co-opted by the fossil fuel lobby to the point of total corruption.

6. By not calling out these incontrovertible realities, mainstream scientists are at risk of becoming the new climate deniers.

Read it here: https://www.jonathonporritt.com/mainstream-climate-science-the-new-denialism/