Denial

When people resist recognizing and responding to the climate crisis.

Denial is the Deadly D of climate defense mechanisms.

Denial can be outright (the climate crisis is a hoax), but increasingly it takes the form of disavowal

People who cling to disavowal:

  • Downplay the seriousness of scientifically-validated data (it’s not as bad as they say).
  • Psychologically distance themselves from the suffering the climate crisis causes.
  • Disconnect from the impacts of the crisis.

All defense mechanisms can be healthy and adaptive. With climate denial, however, our human effort to protect ourselves from a threat has become the threat.

The Deadly D’s have it. Consciously or unconsciously driven, climate denial is having lethal impacts across the globe.

The situation is made even worse by denialism, the industry-driven sowing of doubt about climate science that drives even more outright denial and disavowal.

When people resist recognizing and responding to what’s really happening in the climate crisis, it brings humanity and the natural world ever closer to irreversible climate tipping points. Getting humanity to the social tipping points that can rapidly change our culture before the Earth reaches irreversible climate tipping points depends on confronting denial.

This effort has become humanity’s moon shot. The race is on.