Kerby Anderson

Today is Earth Day which is a day set aside to focus on our environmental challenges. Unfortunately, the environmental movement has a problem. Years of telling all of us that we are headed for an environmental apocalypse have affected the public’s perceptions.

Climate activists used to say their biggest challenge was climate denialism. Now, many are talking about climate doomism. It’s a feeling, especially among young people, that there is nothing we can do to save the environment. Why bother if we are all doomed. It has manifested itself with many young adults publicly announcing they will not have any children because of climate change.

A month ago, I talked about the book by “the skeptical environmentalist” Bjorn Lomborg. In his book, False Alarm, he laments that on the one hand we have an abundance of environmental information that will help us deal with future challenges. But on the other hand, he says, “the rhetoric that comes from commentators and the media has become increasingly irrational.”

Doomism has become such a problem that even some of the environmental activists who have been making some of these irrational statements are starting to tone down their rhetoric. They are even challenging some of the most extreme statements.

One of the scientists they have been battling is a retired University of Arizona ecologist who has become one of the leaders of the doom movement. He reminds us that all species go extinct and that humans are destined for the same future. He predicts that humanity will go extinct in 2026, though he has also mentioned 2030 as an extinction date.

Today on Earth Day we will hear lots of extreme environmental rhetoric. It is encouraging that some environmental activists are starting to realize they have gone too far and promoted doomism amoung the young.