FOR the last several weeks I keep hearing people commenting, ‘We’re not getting any winter this year.’ Yet when I go out in the mornings — when it’s as cold as it gets, which isn’t very cold — there are people in sweaters, jackets, mufflers, hats and gloves. Yes, it’s a smart adaptation technique, as unless people are used to extreme heat they are going to melt come spring. On the other hand, I sometimes think that people’s seemingly infinite capacity to adapt interferes with our taking serious action to make things better.
What I would call dissonance — the verbal acknowledgement that the weather keeps getting hotter, while continuing to dress as if it really is cold outdoors — is certainly not a uniquely Bangladeshi phenomenon. Influencers in the United States are explaining the current horrific California wildfires as being a result of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (because Los Angeles’ fire chief happens to be a gay woman in addition to an experienced firefighter!), while in the aftermath of horrific storms an elected official claims that one political party can control the weather.
Why all this dissonance and denial? Partly because the sheer magnitude and horror of the mess we’ve made of our climate is too terrifying to accept. It is easier to ignore the science and the evidence all around us in favour of fantastical thinking. That eagerness to avoid reality is fed and funded by those who benefit from climate denialism: those who make their billions from causing the climate disaster. On a smaller scale there are the air conditioning manufacturers whose sales are booming in Bangladesh while the government struggles to provide sufficient electricity to run them when temperatures soar.
Denialism is also caused by our reluctance to give up on our comforts and materialism, or dreams of a luxurious lifestyle. Here again corporations are to blame for convincing us that happiness comes not from social connections and fulfilling work, but rather from owning a luxury home and car — despite all evidence to the contrary. The reluctance to part from our comforts and dreams leads people into the trap of magical thinking: we will colonise a new planet, new technologies will save us, even (as an engineering student recently told me), we will be able to make phones from trees.
If we can just pretend that climate change isn’t real, or as scary as we’re being told and are witnessing, then real change isn’t necessary in our own lifestyles and more importantly, in our political and economic systems. We can continue to focus on production and consumption at all costs to society and the environment. We can continue to see dramatic increases in greenhouse gas emissions as we chase an illusionary idea of ‘development’.
Where magical thinking and denialism fail us, distraction succeeds. News about yet another climate disaster getting you down? Fear not, there are plenty of reels and videos available to distract you.
The tragedy in all this is that there are solutions available. No, not the ones we most often hear about, such as carbon capture machines or electric vehicles (still operating mostly on coal-generated electricity). Yes, the solutions that would be effective would be incredibly difficult to enact. On the other hand, we could not only dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution, but also simultaneously strengthen local economies and communities while making our lives better in many (non-materialistic) ways when we return to a simpler way of living, focused on protecting our health and environment rather than on endless consumption. Those benefits include cleaner air, more peace and quiet, and stronger connections with others living in our community. When we redirect wealth from billionaires to everyone else, we would have more social equality, less crime, and more vibrant democracies.
But how could societies around the world possibly create such a major switch from our obsession with wealth and possessions to a focus on people and planet? Oh wait — it was small in comparison, but who could have imagined the global shift towards concern about health, and the innumerable changes that came with it, during the Covid pandemic?
There’s nothing particularly glamorous or magical about these solutions, which perhaps explains in part their lack of appeal in the digital age. They require challenging our preconceived notions about the wonders of capitalism and materialism. But they also offer the only significant avenue of hope for better lives for all, in this generation and beyond.
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Debra Efroymson is executive director of the Institute of Wellbeing, Bangladesh.