Climate countdown: why scaring people is not helping

“Make sure you recycle that.”

“Did you turn off your lights?”

“Why are you using a plastic water bottle? We have reusable ones.”

For as long as I can remember, my mom has been reminding me of the ways I personally can help to “save the environment.” Being the environmental engineer she is, I can’t blame her. For her, it was about creating good individual habits and doing her part for the sake of the planet. But as I got older, I started to wonder: are my good environmental habits really helping?

On September 19, 2020, Union Square in Manhattan unveiled a countdown timer, known as the Climate Clock, to inform the world of just how close we are to doing irreparable damage to our planet. As of October 26, it says we are 7 years and 66 days away. Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd, the artist-activists behind the installation, are working to post the countdown in cities around the world. Berlin premiered their clock exactly one year before Manhattan’s new display, and Paris plans to do the same in 2021. 

According to the Climate Clock website, the estimate is based largely on an existing countdown clock by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, which in turn drew from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC. The clock estimates the time until we exhaust our “remaining carbon budget,” which refers to the amount of carbon dioxide we can release into the atmosphere while avoiding a global temperature rise exceeding 1.5℃. According to the IPCC special report, at this threshold “some impacts [on the climate] may be long-lasting or irreversible.”

Although the clock is based on scientific research, its purpose seems similar to other recent efforts to shock people with apocalyptic views on climate change. For example, on August 22, 2020, social media feeds were filled with “Earth Overshoot Day” infographics: pretty pictures telling you the world is ending (if you can’t remember, here’s an example). While some of these can be informative, they are mostly being used to evoke frustration among our generation. But are these efforts reaching the right audience? And is the difference they make worth causing so much panic and anxiety?

At a young age, we are taught that “you can make a difference in the world.” Although that works for teaching kindergarteners about kindness, the reality is not always that simple. Biking instead of driving on your daily commute is not going to minimize humanity’s impact on the environment on a large scale, and posting numbers, timelines, and dates that make people feel scared or guilty, even less so. Sure, some of us could recycle more often, start a compost pile, or avoid using paper plates. But the benefits of these actions are easily reversed by the actions of large companies.

The Carbon Majors Report of 2017 reveals that 71% of greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 can be attributed to just 100 fossil fuel producers. But these are not the only large contributors to the environmental crisis. Other industries, from fast-fashion to industrial agriculture, have significant environmental impacts as well. Together, their contributions to the climate disaster outweigh the actions of individual members of society. If we are concerned about lowering emissions and saving the planet, let’s begin with the small groups that are having the largest impact.

Though it is hard to avoid politics when discussing how to regulate these companies, the risks of letting these companies continue to pollute unchecked apply to everyone, regardless of how they voted. Shaming individuals on social media, or scaring them with an ominous countdown, might make these discussions even harder since it focuses the attention on individuals. It can lead to defensiveness rather than cooperation. It diverts our attention away from the large companies that have spent an immense effort to hide their environmental impact from the public, as in the case of recycling.

Obviously, actions need to be taken, even on the individual level. But these individual actions should aim to make a change at a higher level. Joining a protest or voting for candidates with clear climate change plans is better than buying a reusable metal straw or posting for Earth Overshoot Day. Let’s start putting pressure on policymakers that could regulate large corporations, propose ways to make new, more efficient technologies competitive in the market, and fund research and development to reduce the impact of large industries on our planet. On a collective level, we have the power to do this with our votes and actions.

As the Countdown Clock continues to tick, my guess is that the oat milk in my latte did not spare us any time. Let’s try and keep the right people accountable. And if any individual action is going to help, voting is a good place to start.