A huge number thinks they will die because of global warming. Relentless propaganda aimed at kids takes its toll.
It can be compared to, "How many times can we change the solar system model before it's reasonable to be doubtful of the message? I think there have been at least 4 changes in what we believe to be the center of our universe in my rather short lifetime and there's always a new proposed center after each one is proven false."
It is a science. It is scientifically proven that the damage we have done to our climate is going to eventually cause very bad consequences. The only question is when, which is very difficult to pin down with constantly changing conditions. It's like trying to identify when the next tornado will hit. You don't know precisely when, you might have some false positives, but you know it will happen. You don't get to say, "Well this is the fifth time the meteorologist has told me to evacuate, I have reason to believe this is politically motivated".
That is not to say that ALL predictions are necessarily wrong, but enough to be wary of the fear mongering. Especially since dramatic predictions probably yield more government money.
Uh, really? There are any number of natural disasters that have been made many times worse by climate change, but ignorance is bliss I guess...
If you’re thinking of nukes, we had New START, SALT, NPT, etc. and a shit ton of activism which significantly reduced the threat.
If you’re thinking of past claims that we’re “past the point of no return” for climate change, those claims were correct. We passed the point of no return for avoiding extreme weather due to climate change. Then we passed the point of no return for 1C of warming. Now we are nearing the point of no return for 1.5C of warming. Things are getting worse for the climate, which is why people keep saying that things are getting worse for the climate.
That said, apathy is counterproductive. We need hopeful children and adults to drive political and technological change. Therapy or other tools for reducing anxiety (e.g. exercise) could help people be hopeful.
It’s hard to communicate bad stuff can be bad without it being WWIII kinds of bad. Imagine time traveling before the pandemic to your younger self in say late 2018 and describing what’s going to happen in detail, in such a way that your younger self feels the same way about it as you do right now.
It will be a serious problem that will take big efforts to solve, but on a civilizational level, it will be much more of an inconvenience than a disaster.
>"Everything seems to say..."
What I just wrote above doesn't go viral or generate millions of clicks. For that you need predictions of epic disaster. So epic disaster stories are what go viral, show up everywhere, makes it easy to conclude that "everything seems to say" that.
The house is made of cards, and there are people running around trying collect more cards than everyone else - even when those are at the base. Meanwhile, someones turned up the AC at one end of the house and the heater at the other, and we've got weird air currents blowing every which way.
I have seen it a lot more of "why even try because our quality of life is going into the toilet" and less of "we are all going to die"
Not sure how active for example "Fridays For Future" is in your country?
Relentless propaganda: if you have kids in school, odds are any event they plan will be littered with climate change stuff, for example. My kids school decided cakes for the next event will have to be vegan because it is better for the climate, for example. Science projects will be about climate something. And that is just school, media is on a whole other level.
The only thing more popular atm is the transgender craze.
As for economic development I think the past few years have shown us very well (though whether or not people want to hear the message will remain to be seen) is that optimizing for economic growth and development (namely GDP) means you're not optimizing for things like redundancy and resilience and stability. Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of a cancer cell; it doesn't have to be ours. How many more "once in a lifetime" economic crisis do we get before we take that to heart?
I didn't even make such references, but your snark claiming renewable energy couldn't possibly have ulterior motives makes no sense.
It is also not a given that it reduces pollution. Until very recently, solar panels cost more energy to make than they would yield. I've hear claims it is different now, but I can not yet buy a solar panel for my house that would make economic sense. That seems odd, because if they would yield a net win in energy, it should be available to buy.
In my country they will now also cut down a historic wood to make space for wind power.
Hydrological dams are also famous for wrecking havoc with ecosystems.
Most ecological issues that are attributed to climate change these days are actually caused by humans destroying nature directly - cutting down woods, eliminating safe spaces for animals and insects, messing with rivers, building cities that let the ground sack into the see, stuff like that.