Climate Inertia: The Psychology of Acting Too Late

Concerns about global warming came to greater public attention in the 1970s. Why then, fifty years later, are we still not taking all the action that we need?

By Professor Nigel MacLennan

Originally Published: 01 December 2021 on Psychreg.org

We have known of the damage being done to our planet by human activities for over 145 years. In 1896, the idea was presented by Svante Arrhenius that fossil fuels could raise the global temperature. It will come as no surprise that other scientists pooh-poohed the idea, on the same grounds that we hear today: humanity could not cause such massive change to such huge global systems.

Forty years later, in the 1930s, the evidence started emerging, but it, too, was dismissed as part of the natural cycle. One person, Guy Callendar had gathered enough evidence of global warming to encourage others to pay attention, decades later. Strangely, Callendar is reported to have expressed the view that global warming was beneficial, to ward off the next Ice Age. Charles Keeling, in the 1960s, produced enough evidence to start much wider investigations in to the increases in green-house gasses. 

Concerns about global warming came to greater public attention in the 1970s. Why then, fifty years later, are we still not taking all the action that we need? Was it that we thought we could deal with it later; that we could kick the can down the road? Did we think that these things can be left to someone, anyone, certainly not us, to deal with?

You can read or listen to the full article here: https://www.psychreg.org/climate-inertia-psychology-acting-too-late/.