Despair Won’t Solve the Climate Crisis

by Talia Reiss

As young people post feelings of hopelessness about climate change, social media is becoming a cesspool of climate nihilism.

“We could be extinct in less than 30 years,” exaggerated one Tiktok user. Though concern about eventual human extinction is justified, there is no evidence to suggest that it will happen in the next 30 years. Another TikTok user wrote, “Climate and environmental [advocacy] seems so hopeless in a corporate ruled capitalist world. It feels like we’re just sitting back and watching it all end.”

No one can blame young people for their eco-anxiety. Recent trends reported by the Environmental Protection Agency show that climate change is escalating quickly, and most people can see the consequences in their own communities. In 2022, the world saw unprecedented heat waves, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and tropical storms.

This is a scary reality, which is precisely the reason that people deny climate change. Pretending climate change isn’t real allows people to avoid anxiety about the future and absolves them of any responsibility to fix it. But publicly pouring out feelings of despair isn’t going to change a climate denier’s mind; it actually does quite the opposite. Logically speaking, if people deny climate change because they don’t want to feel fear, giving them more to be afraid of will only make them more likely to deny climate change.

Not only does climate despair discourage people from joining the movement, it can turn existing environmentalists away from the movement, too. When we push the narrative that the planet is already doomed, it tells environmentalists that our efforts are pointless and that we are helpless in the face of an unstoppable catastrophe. From there, it’s easy to become paralyzed by fear. Instead of actively pursuing a more sustainable lifestyle, we begin to disengage from the problem because it feels overwhelming and anxiety-inducing.

It’s true that individual action alone is not enough. According to a 2017 article published by The Guardian, 100 companies are directly responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions.  So why should we bother with individual action?

Consumers hold the power in our capitalist system. Corporations rely on consumers to make a profit, so when we stop contributing as heavily to harmful industries, the financial pressure forces profit-hungry corporations to compromise. So even though small actions like opening the windows instead of turning on the air conditioner or eating a few vegetarian meals a week can feel futile, we’re playing a vital role in making industry more sustainable.

Making changes in our personal lives reinforces our commitment to the environment and keeps us engaged in the broader movement. At the very least, individual action can help us feel like we’re in control, which empowers us to fight harder for systemic change. Local organizations like Keep Rockland Beautiful, Rockland Sierra Club, and 350 NJ-Rockland are great places to get involved.

It’s okay to feel anxious about climate change, but spreading despair on social media is not the solution. We have good reason to be hopeful: with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, we have taken a historic step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change on low-income communities. We can solve this, but only if we channel our eco-anxiety into a movement that will push us towards a more sustainable future.

Talia Reiss is a senior at Nyack High School and editor-in-chief of the Nyack Spectrum.

 

Note: The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Village of Upper Nyack Board of Trustees.