People are fed up with global warming suggestions
”Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible. “
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Citadelle, 1948
Global warming is an age-old concept, and the problems brought by it are becoming more prominent: glaciers are melting, temperatures are rising, extreme weathers are more common, and allergies, asthma and other infectious diseases are getting worse. So what should we do? Use more public transport and invest in energy-efficient appliances. Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. Eat seasonally and locally. Everywhere you turn to, television advertisements, posters, people are screaming at you to be more environmentally friendly. On the surface, it might seem like a good idea to constantly remind people to be more conscious of their carbon footprint, yet this may become counterproductive. It turns out recommendations on how to reduce our carbon footprint actually make us less likely to take action on the climate crisis, scientists at Georgia State University (GSU) have found.
It is understandable to see so many people fed up with the idea of being environmentally friendly. It’s not that these people do not want to help the environment, but that nagging makes them react badly because they didn’t feel anything they did could make an impact. The research states that we turn “messages that imply the need for individual sacrifices into a negative response to the entire message, including an increased scepticism about climate science and trust in climate scientists.”
We scoff at the idea that us normal citizens have to follow certain suggestions because “only together can we make an impact”, while the upper class continue to burn fossil fuels like there is no tomorrow. But wait. I hear you say that a lot of companies have made sustainable finance commitments, showing their accountability and responsibility towards the matter?
“‘These commitments are just nonsense,’ comments one former sustainable finance head. ‘You don’t run a bank that way – putting out a notice that you’re going to finance $150
billion or something in renewables. Finance is driven by The Credit People.’ ‘I guarantee at monthly meetings these targets aren’t being checked. It’s just a number these banks know they’re going to meet because the renewables industry is growing. In addition, people doing the work in sustainable finance are often isolated from the boards making these sweeping statements.’
The governments’ reluctance in taking up the responsibilities and taking action isn’t helping either. In December 2015, 194 states and the European Union signed up to the Paris Agreement. By signing the Agreement, the world’s nations have committed to limit the increase in global warming to 'well below 2°C', with a goal to keep it to 1.5°C. Instead, an analysis published by the United Nations Environment Programme estimates that the current NDC pledges for 2025/2030 would lead to a world that is 3°C warmer on average at the end of the century than it was at pre-industrial levels. So when the key contributors to global warming aren’t doing much, if at all, to solve the problem, why should we be the ones who take action? Our actions and impacts are minuscule when compared to what different countries, namely China and USA can do to help ease the issue of global warming.
As lame as it sounds, it still is ever so important to be environmentally friendly, to reduce our carbon footprint, because together, we can make an impact. The governments’ dismissal and indifference towards the matter make our role even more impactful and pivotal. Look how the little voice of the then 15-year-old Greta Thunberg managed to raise awareness towards the incompetence of world leaders to address the climate crisis. Since people do not like to be nagged, what can be done instead to continue to spread the importance of reducing our carbon footprint?
Showing and doing, rather than telling, might be a better approach. The ‘flygskam’ or flight shaming movement, popularised by Greta Thunberg herself, demonstrated this as it spread across Europe last year. Inspired by the actions of others, domestic air travel dropped by 9 per cent in Sweden and 12 per cent in Germany. In 2019. A study by Swiss bank UBS found that over a fifth of people they asked in the US, France, England and Germany had cut down on the number of flights they had taken in the last year. Simple things like starting #veganchallenges on social media can have wondrous effects as well, because who doesn’t like a good challenge? Remember, actions speaker louder than words.
References:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/publications/climate-change-faqs/what-are-the-worlds-countries-doing-about-climate-change/
