Exaggerated & Underestimated: The White Walker Problem

Climate Change advocacy has existed for a very long time in the realm of scientific disciplines and scholarly discussions. However, the unprecedented level of participation witnessed today not only by environmentalists and scientists but by school and college students across the globe; non-government organizations and social media influencers have made climate change advocacy an interesting sphere of study which has dramatically surfaced popular media. Despite this newfound voice, Climate Change denial is still a significant hurdle to be crossed today to make policy changes and other strategies useful in the society at large.[1]

The advocates who urge for action against climate change have often faced different accusations by climate change deniers in popular media. One of such accusations is the “misrepresentation of scientific data” to suit the “apocalyptic” rhetoric.[2] The deniers have viewed the usage of words such as “direct existential threat”, “catastrophe climate breakdown” to describe the climate change crisis to be problematic.[3] While it is true that there have been recent claims about climate change concerns causing anxiety among the young population, merely turning a blind eye or trying to water-down the concerns or deem them as invalid would be detrimental.[4] The strategies of front-page coverage and garnering maximum attention to Climate Change concerns are equated with unethical cheap tricks that distract the audience from “real” and far more critical subjects like poverty and human trafficking.[5] The hierarchical categorization of issues to be discussed in the public sphere is highly political. It involves different motivations and interests of political players which may or may not at a given stage align with climate change concerns.[6]

The challenge to the apocalyptic rhetoric by the deniers is made primarily on the assumption that the advocates have portrayed the climate change crisis in an overly exaggerated manner, in the absence of multiple studies supporting the apocalyptic rhetoric.[7] Notwithstanding the presence of pertinent studies to that effect, there are many reasons why such studies may not be in abundance. One such reason is the need for “univocity” or consensus among the scientists in giving forward their opinions to the general public.[8] This comes from the underlying idea that for the study to guide public policy, it should be unambiguous and transparent in its line of suggestion. Often scientists come to a “common ground” for the study to have some “suggestive value” to the political machinery.[9] This predicament is more dangerous than it may seem as it can lead to graver concerns being excluded from the national agenda, let alone coming up with strategies to resolve them.[10]

Another typical portrayal of the climate change crisis in the popular media today is the focus on the “inevitability” of it. This involves situating climate change as a phenomenon so significant and inevitable that one cannot as an individual brings about much change to better the situation. This kind of narrative underestimates an individual’s contribution and blinds the individual of his capacity to influence the situation for the better or for worse. While the awareness regarding Climate Change may have increased by leaps and bounds throughout the years, the notion that individual capacity in mitigating the climate change phenomenon is marginal is still prevalent in discussions surrounding it. Several studies have stressed how the optics of a particular crisis is of critical importance in determining the extent individual action from the general public.[11] It has been emphasized that the popular narrative of reducing individual members of the general public to mere observers than “able actors” leads to a lack of individual contribution to tackle climate change.[12] Efforts should be made to change this persisting idea that the government is the appropriate “agent” for bringing about change by enacting pertinent legislations. While this is imperative and the role of individuals may seem minute in comparison. Still, the fact that individual alterations can and have in the past stimulated results needs to be stressed.[13] It is vital to understand that individual consumers possess the ability to influence large companies to shift towards alternative production techniques.[14]

Today, even though some continue to argue about its exaggeration and some underestimates the possibility to improve the situation via a human agency, with time the evidence of anthropogenic influences in deterring the climate changes situation has continued to increase with extensive research.[15] The narrative that sees the climate change predicament as so big that an individual’s contribution will be fruitless has to be altered. The macro world of consumers comprises of individuals who can change the current operating procedure of the “Big Companies” who are responsible for almost “seventy per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.”[16] Rather than waiting for an effective policy setup from the government based on a big-ticket idea, the market forces of demand and supply must be relied on to combat this.[17] George R. R. Martin, the writer of A Song of Ice and Fire novels, in a New York Times interview spoke on drawing a parallel between climate change in the real world and the “White Walkers”, an army of undead led by a leader who could likely bring a global apocalypse in his fictional world of Westeros.[18] In this fictional world, the threat is ignored as nothing more than a story used by mothers to scare their children to sleep and often sidelined in light of essential matters of statecraft and governance by those who are in seats of power. However, in both the fictional and the real world even if the threat may not be seen now, the threat is real, and “it has always been real”.

[1] Robert J. Antonio and Robert J. Brulle, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Politics: Climate Change Denial and Political Polarization’ (2011) 52 The Sociological Quaterly 195, 199; David Cromwell and Mark Levene, Surviving Climate Change: The Struggle to Avert Global Catastrophe (Pluto Press 2007) 137-157.

[2] Also see, Michael Shellenberger, ‘Why Apocalyptic Claims About Climate Change Are Wrong’ (Forbes, 25 November 2019) Also see Indur M Goklany, The Unhealthy exaggeration: The WHO report on Climate Change (GWPF Briefing 13, 2014) page 1-4.

[3] Bjorn Lomborg, ‘Decades of climate-change exaggeration in the West have produced frightened children, febrile headlines, and unrealistic political promises’ (Interest.co.oz, 14th March 2019)

[4] Sonia Elks, ‘Children suffering eco-anxiety over climate change, say psychologists’ (Thomason Reuters, 19 September 2019); Haris Majeed and Jonathan Lee, ‘The Impact of Climate Change on Youth Depression and Mental Health’ (2017) 1 The Lancet Planetary Health e94; Matthew Taylor and Jessica Murray, ‘Overwhelming and terrifying: the rise of climate anxiety’ The Guardian (10 February 2020).

[5] Bjorn Lomborg, ‘Decades of climate-change exaggeration in the West have produced frightened children, febrile headlines, and unrealistic political promises’ (Interest.co.oz, 14th March 2019).

[6] B. Sudhakara Reddy and Gaudenz B. Assenza, ‘Climate change — a developing country perspective’ (2009) 97 Current Science 50; EU, Policy Department Economic and Scientific Policy ‘Climate change impacts on Developing Countries – EU Accountability’ (IP/A/ENVI/ST/2007-04).

[7] Michael Shellenberger, ‘Why Apocalyptic Claims About Climate Change Are Wrong’ (Forbes, 25 November 2019); Also see Madhav L Khandekar, ‘Has the IPCC exaggerated adverse impact of global warming on Human societies?’ (2008) 19 Energy & Environment 713.

[8] Naomi Oreskes, Michael Oppenheimer and Dale Jamieson, ‘ Scientists have been underestimating the pace of climate change’ (Scientific American, August 19 2019)

[9] Ibid; Michael Oppenheimer, Naomi Oreskes, Dale Jamieson, Keynyn Brysse, Jessica O’Reilly, Matthew Shindell and Milena Wazeck, Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy (University of Chicago Press 2019)

[10] Robert J. Antonio and Robert J. Brulle, ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Politics: Climate Change Denial and Political Polarization’ (2011) 52 The Sociological Quaterly 195, 199.

[11] Peter D. Howe, Jennifer R. Marlon, Matto Mildenberger and Brittany S. Shield, ‘How will climate change shape climate opinion?’ (2019) 14 Environmental Research Letters; Also see James R. Bettman, John W. Payne and Richard Staelin, ‘Cognitive Considerations in Designing Effective Labels for Presenting Risk Information’ (1986) 5

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 1; Robert Audi, Moral Perception (Princeton University Press 2013); Paul Taberham, Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist (Berghahn Books 2018) 25-66.

[12] Andres Oberheitmann, ‘Some Remarks on the Individual Contribution to Climate Change’ (2013) 2 American Journal of Climate Change 198, 202.

[13] Benjamin Giguère and R. N. Lalonde, ‘Why Do Students Strike? Direct and Indirect Determinants of Collective Action Participation’ (2010) 31 Political Psychology 227; James S. Coleman, ‘Individual Interests and Collective Action’ (1966) 1 Papers on Non-Market Decision Making 49; Zachary Ernst and Sara Rachel Chant, ‘Collective Action as Individual Choice’ (2007) 86 Studia Logica 415.

[14] Morten Fibieger Byskov, ‘Climate change: focusing on how individuals can help is very convenient for corporations’ (The Conversation, 10 January 2019) < https://theconversation.com/climate-change-focusing-on-how-individuals-can-help-is-very-convenient-for-corporations-108546&gt; accessed 30 June 2020.

[15] Burns H. Weston, ‘Climate Change And Intergenerational Justice: Foundations Reflection’ (2008) 9 Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 375; Also see Michael Goldsby and W. John Koolage, ‘Climate Modeling: Comments on Coincidence, Conspiracy, and Climate Change Denial’ (2015) 12 Environmental Philosophy 221, 221-222.

[16] Gaby Del Valle, ‘Can consumer choices ward off the worst effects of climate change? An expert explains’ (Vox, 12 October 2018)

[17] N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Microeconomics (7th edn, South-Western College Publishing 2013) 65-88; Morten Fibieger Byskov, ‘Climate change: focusing on how individuals can help is very convenient for corporations’ (The Conversation, 10 January 2019)

[18] Matt Miller, ‘George R.R. Martin Explains the Real Political Message of Game of Thrones’ (Esquire, 17 October 2018).