Category Archives: Climate Lie

Props for Denial Intervention!

We’re facing a global emergency, but the great majority of Americans are acting as though everything is fine. The Climate Mobilization is creating tools and props to help each of us intervene in the trance of collective denial in our daily lives.

As I elaborated in my recent article in Common Dreams, climate change creates a situation of “pluralistic ignorance,” in which we all look to each other to determine whether there is a crisis that we should react to, and because we see each other acting calm and normal, we determine that there isn’t one.

If we are to instigate the society-wide crisis response that is necessary, we need to collectively accept that we are, in fact, in a crisis — and then decide how to act on it beyond just shifting our consumer choices.

The Pledge to Mobilize is a tool to empower individuals to accelerate this collective awakening into an effective political response. It incorporates many psychological principles (the power of relationships, the power of public commitments, and the hope of a viable comprehensive solution) that fight denial.

But conversations about the climate crisis can be uncomfortable, and unless you’re surrounded by people who are highly informed about it, it can be tough to figure out how to spark meaningful conversations in a way that feels natural.

So we’re suggesting a few “props” that can supplement outreach efforts, and help cut through climate denial, minimization, and silence with people in our daily lives.

All of these props are meant to start conversations specifically about the climate crisis, and how YOU and the people around you can be an integral part of building a large-scale mobilization against it. These ideas can also be modified by people who like the idea but don’t want to promote the Pledge to Mobilize specifically.

E-mail Signature

One great — and free — denial-fighting prop is the email signature. After seeing a few Mobilizers do this, I added one myself. Every outgoing email I send is now appended with:

“Are you concerned that climate change threatens the collapse of civilization? If so, lets talk about the way forward, and the crucial role that you can play in creating a safe and stable future.

Using this type of inviting yet blunt signature can cause many people to stop and think. It may make some uncomfortable, but it also creates an opportunity for them to engage further. I encourage anyone who’s alarmed about climate change to create an email signature that works for you!

Climate Denial Intervention Cards, aka TCM Business Cards

Any TCM member can personalize and order these cards. With your personal info on the back and a bold statement of climate truth on the front, these are sure to inspire a reaction, which can hopefully lead to a meaningful conversation!  If you want to order these, let me know and I will add you to the list of people who can access them.



When attending political events (or just in daily life), you can be a walking advertisement for climate change awareness and The Climate Mobilization with this t-shirt, available from UberPrints.



Some Mobilizers rocking these t-shirts at the People’s Climate March a few months ago:


A book (the old fashioned kind) can be a great conversation-starter with someone who’s intrigued to see you reading it.

Here are some of our top recommendations for a deeper understanding of the climate crisis, the scale of mobilization that’s necessary, and the obstacles we must surpass to get there:









Of course there are many more that are worth reading — we’re working on compiling a longer list of books that I highly recommend, with notes about how each one relates specifically to The Climate Mobilization’s mission.

More Ideas?

We will continue to develop props to assist Mobilizers’ efforts at spreading climate truth and the Pledge to Mobilize. What materials would be helpful to you in your personal mobilization?

I think the next thing to develop will be a bumper sticker. If you have ideas for how to phrase one (…perhaps addressing the apparent contradiction between driving and fighting climate change), let us know!

The Human Climate Movement: What’s in a Name

I have been using the term “Human Climate Movement” in my writing for several months now. I thought it would be good to clarify why I introduced this term, what it means, and why I think it is valuable strategically.

The short answer for why to introduce the phrase Human Climate Movement is that there was no appropriate word or phrase available to describe what I wanted to describe. 350, the most prominent group of the Human Climate Movement, doesn’t name the movement, but rather describes it:  “a global movement to solve the climate crisis”

There is, of course, the “Environmental movement” or various permutations of the term “Green.” However, I wanted a term that connotes a fight for the continuation of humanity, which relies on a stable climate, (as well as other environmental factors, such as freshwater). We need a Human Climate rather than, for example, the climate of Venus or Mars. Nature captured this idea in the article, “A Safe Operating Space for Humanity.”













Evaluating Cynical Claims

Are the cynics correct? Are we “fucked?”








What Causes Climate Cynicism?




The Moral Imperative of Hope



















Forget your Footprint. Responsibility for Climate Change = Power + Resources + Talent. (W/ Schindler’s List Clip)

Climate change threatens to destroy the global climate and cause human civilization to collapse. Given this grave set of circumstances, what is my moral obligation? What is yours? How is it possible to live a moral life under these circumstances? When the systems we live within fail so terribly, how can we, as individuals succeed at living morally?

Deconstructing “Reduce your footprint”

The most common answer has long been to “reduce your carbon footprint!” We are exhorted by corporations, politicians, environmentalists, and the media. In the highly contentious arena of climate change, individuals reducing their impact may be the sentiment that has the most common ground.

Unfortunately, it is myopic and apolitical. Emphasizing individual emission reduction places the debate about climate change to the individual realm, rather than realm of societies, systems, and politics. This is why the carbon footprint  is a non-controversial approach to advocacy; it puts the onus of change onto the individual, freeing corporations, institutions, and governments from pressure to change.

Americans have, throughout our history, elevated the status of the individual. Individual freedom is paramount in our founding documents, and we generally esteem individual achievement above group achievement (Think sports stars or Steve Jobs; we love a hero).

Focusing on Systems and Systemic Change

We focus on the individual so much, that we can sometimes forget that we live within cultures, societies and governments; that our lives are governed by systems; that systems set the rules of the game. Governments, capitalism, the legal system, land-use schemes (zoning laws) and cultural norms—these systems structure and contain our lives.   These systems encourage consumption in thousands of ways. They make pollution free and reducing your carbon footprint expensive and difficult.

Our current systems—the ways we have structured and regulated human life, the way our civilization functions— is careening towards chaos. Our systems are destroying our climate, which has provided us humanity with stability and bounty, making human civilization possible for the last 10,000 years.

These systems are bigger than us. They comprise billions of people and trillions of dollars. Individual action is a speck of dust when compared to these systems. It will never succeed.

Our moral imperative, then, is not to reduce our carbon footprint. It is to change the systems. Though systems are daunting and powerful, they are developed and maintained by people, especially powerful people. We built them, we maintain them, and we can change them. Social movements have  done it many times before. We must create a social and political movement that fights denial and minimization and demands that the United States government respond to climate change as the existential threat it isto fight back with a WWII level mobilization.

Individual Responsibility, Reconceptualized.

When the systems have gone off the rails, then it is up to individuals to change those systems. A governments most basic responsibility is to keep its citizens safe. The climate crisis threatens all Americans and all humanity. Our government, as well as our culture, media, and economic system, have failed. Its up to us now.

Each of us must ask: what can I do to fight the culture climate change denial? How can I contribute to shifting the United States from passivity to action? How can I use my power, resources, talents, and connections to further the movement? Each person will have their own answer. Journalists can report on climate change; artists can create art about climate; religious leaders can preach about climate change in their sermons. Academics and students can apply their knowledge to helping the Human Climate Movement develop innovative strategies for success. Everyone can spread the truth of climate change amongst their family and friends.

Every person must give what they can to usher in the social movement. This means that the more power, resources, talent  you have, the greater your obligation. Perhaps Spiderman said it best: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

People often underestimate their power (and hence, their responsibility), thinking, “I’m only one person.” Or, “I’m just a student,” or “I’m not a politician or a scientist. What can I do?”

The truth is, if you are reading this, you probably have a good deal of power and privilege. You are literate, you speak English, you have access to the Internet, and you have the time available to read articles about climate change. Are you an American?  Than you are a voting member of the worlds most powerful nation. Do you have a college education? You are more powerful still. Globally, only 6.7% of people have a college degree. If you are one of the privileged, educated few, I believe you have a moral responsibility to use your knowledge to fight the climate crisis. Do you have money in your bank account? That’s a lot of power right there. Remember, 2.4 billion people live on less than $2 a day.  Are you talented? Do people respect you? Do you have a leadership position at work or in a community organization? These are assets that can be utilized for change, also.

Oscar Schindler: The Burden of Power in an Evil System

Oscar Schindler understood  that, in a crazed, immoral system such as Nazi Germany, powerful individuals bore a great burden of moral responsibility. Schindler was a rich German factory owner who, during the war, began to produce munitions and military supplies for the Nazis. As Schindler realized the evil of the Nazi system, he realized that he had to fight back. The situation was different in several ways than the climate crisis— the Nazi system was being challenged by the Allied forces, and open dissent was brutally suppressed. So Schindler did two things: 1) He began a mission to save as many Jews as he could, by employing them in his factory, relocating his factory to a safer area, and giving lavish bribes to officials and 2) He sabotaged his own factories operations. He never wanted to produce a working bullet; he knew that those bullets would be used to defend the Nazi cause.

Schindler understood that he had a moral obligation to stand against an evil system and that he had to use his power and privilege to do so. He undermined the system by providing it with faulty munitions, and shielded more than a thousand Jews from the system’s murderous intent.

So how did Oscar Schindler feel when the system was defeated—when Germany surrendered to the allies? Stephen Spielberg illustrates in the ending of his film Schindler’s List:

Schindler, rather than accepting the gratitude of his workers, is acutely aware of how much more he could have given—how much more his privilege and power required of him. And this was after the Allies had won. 

Imagine how you will feel as climate change continues to worsen, prompting resource wars, famines, and outbreaks of vector borne disease? Will you be able to hold your head high, confident that you did everything you could to contribute to the solution? Or will you live with the pain of knowing that you had power, resources, and talent, but failed to use it to change the system?

Living in Climate Truth, Sections I-V

 I Introduction











II Vaclav Havel and Living in Truth





III. The Climate Lie


Havel described the lies of the totalitarian government:







IV Intellectual Denial.







V  Emotional denial







Continue to Sections VI-X


Living in Climate Truth, Sections VI-X

Return to Sections I-V

VI Tokenism
























IX How to Live in Climate Truth, Politically.






X Living in Climate Truth means Living with Honor.



