Because Ignorance Is Bliss
Truth is powerful. It is emancipatory. It is clear. It is also dangerous.
When we encounter truth, we have to let go of our lies, and this can be extremely threatening, especially for people whose entire life is built on lies. A house of cards will always be afraid of the wind. A castle of sand will always be afraid of the wave, and the wind is truth – truth is the wave.
People deny climate change because it is the truth, and the truth is extremely inconvenient. In order to accept the truth of climate change, we will have to let go of all the lies we tell ourselves and confront the possibility of bringing a change in ourselves. This can be unsettling because we will have to abandon the comforts and luxuries of exploiting the seemingly endless resources of the planet, and we may have to face the possibility of enduring fresh hardship. This can be unpleasant for many people, especially those who are quite snugly settled in their lifestyles. Accepting climate change can threaten to topple everything.
So, some people deny climate change because they promote ignorance, and according to the oldest maxim – Ignorance is bliss. They’d rather live in Plato’s cave, shrouded by darkness and making inaccurate guesses about the shadows, than be brave enough to venture out and face the light of the sun. They deny climate change simply because it is the truth, and truth destroys the lie, but they like to live in lies. Climate change is a threat to them because it will topple their house of cards.
Because God is Dead, So Greed Is Not a Sin
In traditional Christian teachings, greed has been recognized as one of the seven deadly sins and ensures the descent of humankind into the deepest pits of hell. Literally speaking, the presence of greed in human behavior becomes a catalyst for real-life woe, tragedy, and hardship, not for the greedy person, but for everyone around them who have suffered due to their greed.
When it comes to the exploitation of natural resources, even the word plundering falls short of capturing what humanity has done to nature. No other species on planet Earth exhibits this type of large-scale selfish behavior where it loots and privatizes resources for limited use, then turns them into waste and dumps it back into nature, deeming it Mother Earth’s problem. The idea of a ‘Single Use Plastic’ or ‘Use & Throw’ philosophy seems to be applicable to the entire horde of natural resources, as far as the human-centric (the anthropocentric) view is concerned. Humanity has truly taken advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty, and it perceived her silence as a sign of approval.
The sad truth is that the free-market system of the 21st-century capitalist economy lies fundamentally on the idea of endless exploitation of natural resources coupled with human slavery to acquire surplus wealth and material goods. By declaring humanity as the conqueror of nature, it justified its greed and normalized the idea of extravagant possession and consumption of material products in the guise of development, success, status, and honor.
Unfortunately, climate change seems to be the end of the road for this unchecked exploitation of nature. It turns out that natural resources are not endless – they are not only finite but also cause a great deal of damage to the environment, a fact that human beings had conveniently ignored for a long period of time. Now, accepting the reality of climate change poses a threat to this relentless spirit of economic development, where the rich people become richer and the poor people become even poorer – a development and infrastructural growth where urban smart cities are unbreathable with 1000+ AQIs, roads are un-travelable due to 24/7 traffic, and life is unlivable due to a toxic work-life imbalance.
Accepting climate change would imply that the majority of the world, along with nature, would not end up getting exploited for the narrow interests of the few, and this can be unsettling.
Because The Science Is Difficult
There are people on the planet who cannot digest the fact that the world is round. Adding climate change to the plate can be a bit too much…
Because The Doom’s Day Is Far Away
Climate change is a long-term phenomenon. It is the culmination of bad habits and toxic practices which led to the gathering of pollution and emissions for a long period of time, eventually manifesting as tangible global warming. So, it’s not something one can perceive in a single day, which allows people to prioritize other immediate and short-term problems that tend to keep the human mind engaged. Since the threat and consequence of climate change seem so far away from the mundane chores of everyday life, people tend to deny its presence to prioritize other things.
Interestingly, people who smoke a lot of cigarettes also tend to ignore the long-term possibility of contracting fatal or serious diseases that can make their life hell. So, it seems like a bet between short-term pleasure over potential long-term disaster. Climate change denial seems to be working on a similar thread of thought.
Because There Is Lack of Knowledge
Some people deny climate change simply because they don’t know about it or are misinformed about the facts. Hope lies in the ancient maxim which states that – Truth can set us free.
Why We Shouldn’t Deny Climate Change
It makes more sense to empower ourselves with truth because it prepares and equips us to tackle the incoming challenges and hope for victory. Denial is a very common human behavior, often stemming from a fondness for lies or an inability to accept the facts, but denying or ignoring a problem does not make it go away; in fact, it even complicates it.
By acknowledging the reality of climate change, we can actually connect and participate with all others who are in conversation with the truth and aim to address the challenge head-on by uniting and combining the global collective power. By denying climate change, we may live in our bubble for a short period of time, but eventually, it will burst, and it is much better to be prepared to meet whatever comes than to be unprepared.
Also Read: Climate Change – A Call To Change Ourselves
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company or its affiliates.
