Yes, climate change is bad. No, we’re not doomed.

Curious to know what other people are thinking? Google always knows. I opened up a fresh Google page and wrote just two words:

"will climate"

This is what happened...

Wow, okay. People are really worried that climate change is going to end human civilization.

So, are we doomed?

If you take away one thing from this blog post, let it be this: No, we are not doomed.

While falling into climate doom is a totally understandable emotional response, here’s why it’s important to fight back against that impulse.

What climate scientists say, in a nutshell

The first and most important reason to resist climate doom is that it’s factually incorrect.

Yes, we’ve already hit greater than 1.0°C average heating compared to pre-industrial times. Yes, the latest UN IPCC report, the best state-of-the-science summary we have, says we’re likely to cross the 1.5°C threshold within 10 years. And yes, even if we stopped emitting all fossil fuels today, a certain amount of temperature increase is already locked in because CO2 acts like a blanket, trapping heat slowly over time. But we’re a long way off from losing everything.

Here’s the good news: No credible climate scientist thinks we’re doomed. Zero.

Here’s the good news: No credible climate scientist thinks we’re doomed. Zero.

It’s too late to avoid climate change completely, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to act. The challenge now is to avoid even worse outcomes, which is totally doable.

Climate change is not an either/or. It’s a vast spectrum of possible outcomes. That’s why climate scientists run hundreds of different climate models to test out different scenarios, which are then compared to real world measurements. The biggest variable? Human action. The projected effects of global heating differ wildly at 1.5°C to 2.0°C, 3.0°C, etc. But the magnitude of consequences in a world that’s 3.0°C hotter by 2100 are vastly different from 2.0°C, not to mention 1.0°C, the world we live in now. In other words, the effects of climate change are non-linear.

While there is still a lot of uncertainty and debate about exactly how the climate crisis will play out, what there is near perfect agreement on is this: What we do today is vitally important. I think that’s well summed up by climate scientist Kate Marvel’s tweet on the eve of the latest IPCC report.

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Fear itself

There’s a reason climate doom seems to be on the rise, and it’s not just because we’re seeing more unprecedented extreme weather. Now that the fact of climate change is so plainly obvious, it’s become harder to outright deny its existence. Doom is now a tool of “inactivists”, a term climate scientist Michael E. Mann uses to describe a nexus of fossil fuel interests who campaign to maintain business as usual by misleading the public with disinformation.

In this Guardian interview, he notes:

“Doom-mongering has overtaken denial as a threat and as a tactic. Inactivists know that if people believe there is nothing you can do, they are led down a path of disengagement. [Well meaning people] unwittingly do the bidding of fossil fuel interests by giving up.”

Inactivists know that if people believe there is nothing you can do, they are led down a path of disengagement.

This has the especially pernicious effect of affecting people who are engaged with the issue. If those who would otherwise be pushing for meaningful climate action think there’s nothing to be done, then we’ll all just continue to burn fossil fuels, won’t we? Doom has the danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Perhaps it’s apt to quote Franklin Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is… fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

What can I do

Doom is a powerful emotion. In a way, it’s comforting because it gives people certainty when feeling anxious about a deeply uncertain reality. But doom isn’t reality. If you’re feeling this way, check out our piece on how to turn climate anxiety into something powerful.

Think about it. We already have the technology to completely decarbonize the global electricity grid right now. And most of the innovation needed for the rest simply needs funding. In other words, there is nothing physically stopping us from addressing this crisis and building a better world. Every barrier to climate action exists inside people’s heads. It’s a matter of collective will, which always starts from within yourself.

Stay engaged with the issue, talk to people, vote, make choices that align with your values. And when you help others to take that journey with you, then you begin shifting the whole culture. Because it’s never going to be too late to do something.

Want to get started? Mammoth Climate helps you make the greatest climate impact of your life, by bringing climate literacy, action, and real emissions reduction right into the workday. By championing Mammoth Climate at work, you can help every employee at your organization better understand their climate impact, and ultimately act to reduce it both at home and at work.

Today’s as good a day as any to get started. I think you'll find that it's easier than you might think.