Climate action delay #10: Appeal to Well-being
Today in our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we look into “Appeal for Well-being””, which falls under the category of disruption fear. Progress is closely linked to the availability of sufficient energy. After coal was initially considered the most important source of energy, the exploitation of oil […]
Climate action delay #9: No sticks, just carrots
In our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “No sticks, just carrots”, which falls under the category of disruption fear. “Don’t bribe children with sweets” is a standard message for any parent seeking advice on how to motivate their offspring to behave a certain way. “Children […]
Climate action delay #8: Appeal to Social Justice
This time in our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we delve into “appeal to social justice”, which falls under the category of disruption fear fallacies. In many countries, people are struggling with inflation and increasing social inequality. The effects of the crises hit poorer people particularly hard. […]
Climate action delay #7: Individualism
In our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “Individualism”, which falls under the category of redirect responsibilities. Changing one’s own behaviour is very right and important. Nevertheless, we can’t rely on everyone joining in of their own accord and sometimes actions we deem as “climate friendly” […]
Climate action delay #6: Fossil fuel solutionism
Today’s critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action is looking into “fossil fuel solutionism”, which falls under the category of overoptimism fallacies. Today the “Climate Ambition Summit” was opened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, an event that has been announced last December as a “no nonsense summit”. Despite repeated […]
Climate action delay #5: Change is impossible
In our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “Change is impossible”, which falls under the category of resignation fallacies. The Covid-19 pandemic has proven in a drastic way that changes in our behaviour and lifestyle are possible. Even drastic measures were accepted – at least in […]
Climate action delay #4: Policy perfectionism
This time in our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we dive into “policy perfectionism”, a variant of disruption fear fallacies. These days, policies to mitigate climate change are being considered from many different angles, leading to intense debate. This also makes sense, because every measure not only […]
Climate action delay #3: all talk, little action
In our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “All talk, little action”, which falls under the category of overoptimism fallacies. Recently, the news has been spreading that greenhouse gas emissions in Europe have fallen slightly by 3%, according to economic estimates. It was particularly emphasised that […]
Climate action delay #2: Doomism
This week in our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “Doomism”, which falls under the category of resignation fallacies. The news of last weeks were characterised by reports about temperature records, marking July as the hottest month on record since 1880, extreme wildfires causing huge damage […]
Climate action delay #1: Technological optimism
In our critical reflexion on typical causes for delaying, downgrading, or rejecting climate change action, we explore “technology optimism”, which falls under the category of overoptimism fallacies. In our daily news feeds related to climate change, we increasingly encounter two main topics: alarming reports about ever more record weather events and encouraging messages about new […]