One unexpected thing in my qualitative study w natural scientists (one-hour interviews) is how deeply, deeply sad the climate scientists are. They say things like "you have enough information from us, why won't anyone act?" -- the psychological distress these people are enduring is very great.
And when it all falls down it will be their fault for not warning us loudly enough
Political leaders are often scientifically (& mathematically) illiterate & can't digest the information they are presented with. There might also be the Bystander Effect at work: every country is hoping another one will do something. See also: corruption of politics by 'big carbon'.
they need to communicate their findings not to politicians, but to actuaries. once the danger is covered into actual numbers (and increased insurance premiums) the politicians will start receiving the message
It's not just climate scientists and environmental scientists/engineers that are sad; engineers in fields developing green tech and clean energy are also deeply sad.
That is sad. An observation: I organize a lot of climate protests on various policy and corporate campaigns. I donāt believe Iāve ever met a climate scientist at one of our events. Never. Iām very sad about whatās happening, too. Fighting for change, and occasionally winning makes me happy!
Because too many people too often treat facts as something debatable.
@erikahall.bsky.social reminiscent of discussions we've had.
[social scientist who tracks U.S. protest activity] <raises hand>
This makes me sad for the climate scientists. Such a heavy and seemingly intractable burden they bearā¦
I just replied to someone who thinks the fear is worse than long COVID itself. They aren't looking at the effects on the whole population. It is depressing because it's so obvious, yet most aren't using tools to stop infections. I feel we're working to decrease population before the š is done.