We Have a Wrong Perception of Climate Change. Here's The Truth.

I've always heard wise people say that first know the problem perfectly, and in doing so, more than half of the problem is already solved - as if the missing parts of the solution lies right within our limited knowledge of the problem.

Talking about a gigantic problem, Climate change, which is nothing short of a global level issue, the things around it are really messy.

Scientists have informed us about it since last 50 years but still, in 2022, in the times when innovations are most need, we haven't got a single breakthrough, or any major leap in tackling this problem. Ever wonder why is it so?

To find an answer, one of my favourite science channel on YouTube Veritasium's Derek Muller went on to interview his surrounding citizens, to get to know their basic idea about climate change and things framing that.

His video, which inspired me to write on this topic, literally reads 'Climate change is boring'.

He says, "Climate change is boring. Now don't get me wrong. It's incredibly important. But it's just that the story of climate change is not especially compelling."

Then, he ventures about into the streets to know from the public about their views on climate change.

---

Derek :- (To a man) What do you feel about climate change?

He :- So I think Australia is the most affected..and that's because of the ozone layer, the hole, I think, I reckon, yeah?

(An Aunty)..:- There used to be a natural layer up there, yeah? That blocked things. Its- Its-

(Uncle) :- Its getting thinner yeah?

.. (Aunty) :- And so more heat's coming down.

---

The conversation represents mostly all of our general idea about climate change. To recap, it's that our burning of fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that is causing the earth's atmosphere to trap slightly more thermal energy, causing overall temperature of the planet to rise.

Derek remarked about the comments about the ozone layer reason that the hole in ozone layer is infact a problem, but it isn't exactly a major cause of climate change.

Then he asked to the public, "Have you changed anything in your life because of the climate change that is happening?"

The most common answer of all was recycling, segregating waste to proper bins, etc.

Again, Derek asserts that recyling is important, but it's not really going to reduce greenhouse gas emmisions which come mainly from energy use and transportation.

Hence, he finally concludes that most people don't how climate change works and also are clueless about what to do about it.

What's worse is that there's so much confusion that some people think humans aren't responsible for it!

---

(That aunty)..:- I'm a doubter, not sure if we humans actually cause climate change.

(That uncle) :-.. You get so many conflicting opinions on it and they all should be coming from reputable sources. 

---

"Here's the thing. The vast majority of climate scientists agree that climate change is happening and that humans are playing a significant role, but the public doesn't see this broad consensus, because, well, there are arguments made to the contrary by businesses with vested interests, those who stand to lose if a price is put on carbon."

Yes, and these people make up stories that climate change is just some people's self-invented humbug to make them rich and powerful.

Meanwhile, the scientists respond with carefully worded predictions, "In the 90% confidence interval by 2050, climate change will raise earth's average temperature between 1.4 to 2.6 degree celsius.

This is why scientists have had a tough time informing the public about climate change.

"It's easier to tell a compelling story if you can make up whatever you want, than if you have to stick to the truth" 

Derek says climate change is like an Armageddon (conflict), but just instead of a giant earth-crushing asteroid, it's slightly more invisible problem.

Why aren't we taking any serious steps as a human civilisation to cut down our carbon sins? Why still climate change is a boring problem?

Instead of the imminent destruction of planet, this issue has befallen upon with a lot of patience, playing its cards slowly and wisely. Climate change? It's but a gradual warming over decades.

Our brains are adapted to deal with clear and present danger. They're not so good at handling complex, long-term, probabilistic forecasts, which is kind of why we have governments!

They're meant to act in our best interests especially in the case of complex, long-term probems.

Darek :- The real reason why I find climate change boring is because we know what the problem is. The science is well,-established, and the solutions are fairly obvious, and yet, action is not being taken. 

In this video, I also read all the comments and am attaching the best ones.

I hope that this blog fulfills its purpose of initiating a discussion on climate action. In this blog, we also got many broader insights on climate change.

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.