Part Five / What We Must Do Now

5.4 Overcoming Climate Apathy

All online sources accessed on

  1. ‘This is bad’ Rich, N., ‘Losing Earth: the decade we almost stopped climate change’, New York Times Magazine, 1 August 2018, .

    the ‘Five Ds’ of psychological defence Stoknes, P. E., ‘How to transform apocalypse fatigue into action’,, TED Talk, 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/per_espen_stoknes_how_to_transform_apocalypse_fatigue_into_action_on_global_warming?language=en; Stoknes, P. E., What We Think about When We Try Not to Think about Global Warming: Toward a New Psychology of Climate Action (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2015), 81–4.

  2. ‘People are needed along a vast front’ Naess, A., ‘Deep Ecology of Wisdom’, in The Selected Works of Arne Naess, ed. H. Glasser et al. (Dordrecht: Springer, 2005), vol. 10, 86–7.

    We need people in finance and administration Stoknes, P. E., Tomorrow’s Economy: A Guide to Creating Healthy Green Growth (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021).

  3. three quarters of people are deeply concerned Watts, J., ‘Humans “pushing Earth close to tipping point”, say most in G20’, Guardian, 16 August 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/16/three-quarters-g20-earth-close-to-tipping-point-global-survey-climate-crisis. See also Leiserowitz, A., et al., International Public Opinion on Climate Change, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 28 June 2021, https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/international-public-opinion-on-climate-change/.

    ‘By interacting with extreme misery’ Naess, A., ‘A Place of Joy in a World of Fact’ (1973), from There Is No Point of No Return (London: Penguin, 2021), 57..

    there are good reasons, too, to feel deep joy, enthusiasm and gratitude A good rule of thumb for climate communications is to share three innovative opportunities or actions for each threat or risk. This so-called ‘positivity ratio’ results in greater engagement and creativity. It allows the mental energy which is bound up in fear and worry to find a healthy outlet, moving people towards opportunity and action.