J
JDs Couch
Well-known member
You might be scratching your head at how those who reject the overwhelming evidence on how the global and long-documented experiment we call human-caused climate change is making weather extremes worse are the loudest to claim that weather extremes are being intensified or even created via top secret and technologically impossible weather modification experiments—but here’s the difference.
With option A, we’re responsible, so we all have to fix it. With option B, we’re not responsible - "they" are! So there's nothing for us to do, other than blame them.
Here's what's going on behind the curtain. 99.9% of climate denial, including claims of weather modification rather than human-caused climate change super-sizing our wildfires, floods and storms, is solution aversion. In other words, people believe the solutions to climate change pose a greater threat than the risks.
However, it sounds terrible to say, "sure it's real, and it's affecting the most vulnerable and marginalized people who've done the least to cause it, but I don't want to fix it." That would make us a bad person - and most of us don't want to feel like bad people! So instead, our brains engage in "motivated reasoning" - looking for reasons to explain why we must be right, rather than looking for what's right and then making up our minds afterwards.
Most climate denial falls into one of five general categories:
1. It’s not real
2. It’s not us
3. It’s not bad
3. We can’t fix it
5. It’s too late
Conspiracy theories about secret experiments have been around for decades and they fall solidly into category 2 above: “it’s not us, it’s THEM.”
For more on the (very real) research field of geoengineering and how it is not the same as the conspiracy theories you hear about on social media, watch the short Global Weirding episode linked in the comments.
With option A, we’re responsible, so we all have to fix it. With option B, we’re not responsible - "they" are! So there's nothing for us to do, other than blame them.
Here's what's going on behind the curtain. 99.9% of climate denial, including claims of weather modification rather than human-caused climate change super-sizing our wildfires, floods and storms, is solution aversion. In other words, people believe the solutions to climate change pose a greater threat than the risks.
However, it sounds terrible to say, "sure it's real, and it's affecting the most vulnerable and marginalized people who've done the least to cause it, but I don't want to fix it." That would make us a bad person - and most of us don't want to feel like bad people! So instead, our brains engage in "motivated reasoning" - looking for reasons to explain why we must be right, rather than looking for what's right and then making up our minds afterwards.
Most climate denial falls into one of five general categories:
1. It’s not real
2. It’s not us
3. It’s not bad
3. We can’t fix it
5. It’s too late
Conspiracy theories about secret experiments have been around for decades and they fall solidly into category 2 above: “it’s not us, it’s THEM.”
For more on the (very real) research field of geoengineering and how it is not the same as the conspiracy theories you hear about on social media, watch the short Global Weirding episode linked in the comments.