Left to themselves, the majority of consumers in the Global North will never make all the adjustments that are required. We are in urgent and desperate need of bold leadership, but we’re not getting it.
"Climate change is happening, so why do we still act like it's not?"
Climate researchers initially assumed that if you gave people the right information, we would act on it. Burning fossil fuels comes with severe consequences — so let's phase out fossil fuels. But they found out very quickly this was not the case.
For many people, it triggered cognitive dissonance, where they knew climate change was happening but acted like it wasn't. After all, many people still smoke, even though they know it is bad for their health. And many of us still fly to Italy — even though we know how many extra tons of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere.
Why is it so easy to understand but not act?
It's because of public and private narratives we have grown up with. Our expectations of life are geared towards wanting comfort and stability.