Heatwaves and climate change: Don’t shoot the messenger, they’re only telling the truth

Usually the arrival of a heatwave in Ireland is seen as good news. We change our greetings to one another and ask “Are you enjoying the great weather?”, and the newspapers have front-page pictures of children enjoying ice creams and swimming at the beach. This year feels a bit different. The heatwave is also an ominous sign of climate breakdown. We hear about wildfires out of control across Europe, widespread droughts, collapsing agricultural yields, rivers drying up and biodiversity loss. Worse still, scientists report that these extreme events will only get worse as the planet heats. Once-in-a-lifetime heatwaves could become yearly events — one can only imagine the catastrophic impacts.

This year weather reporters and meteorologists have started to more clearly explain this bad news that comes with the warm weather, but it has not always been welcome. Indeed the accurate reporting of how climate change caused the heatwaves has received a media backlash. Many tabloids across the UK and Ireland have had strong opinion pieces calling for meteorologists to quit this “doom-mongering”, to get back in their box and to just report the “good” weather. More surprising has been how many usually scientifically informed journalists have joined this clarion call for scientists to shut up about climate change and just let people enjoy the good weather.

From a psychological perspective these reactions are understandable. So serious and scary is the reality of climate change that our impulse can be to deny it. It is too painful to consider how our comfortable lifestyles are causing climate change and so we try to psychologically avoid this. So strong can our impulse to deny uncomfortable truths that we will angrily attack anyone who speaks it and cling to implausible alternatives. Denial explains a lot about the growth in anti-science opinion worldwide.

Facing the reality of climate change does not mean you can’t enjoy the good weather that comes with a heatwave. Having an ice cream on a beach does not mean you are a climate denier

However, denial is ultimately a poor coping mechanism. It causes scapegoating and conflict and delays people taking appropriate action. The alternative is to face the reality of our predicament, and to bravely experience our feelings of fear, guilt and grief. This can be an uncomfortable, upsetting process. Many scientists who are fully aware of the catastrophic implications of climate change, talk in private of the toll this takes on their mental health. One ecologist I worked with talks of her constant grief as she witnesses the collapse of the natural world all around her. Many climate campaigners experience eco-anxiety and burnout. However, you don’t have to become stuck in these difficult feelings — you can use them to drive you to positive change. You can channel your fear and anger into committed action and constructive change and to build a more resilient and sustainable world. One of the benefits of being aware of climate breakdown is how it can make you grateful and appreciate what you have now we face into an uncertain future. See more in The Irish Times Changing World, Changing Minds series

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Not all denial is bad thing. To function on a day-to-day to basis we can’t be constantly focused on the problems we face. As during the Covid crisis, constantly scrolling through the scary news about climate and the relenting world crisis that surrounds us, will only lead to excessive anxiety and despair. While we need to keep informed of reality, we also need to put boundaries around our attention, and choosing to regularly switch off from the bad news is good for our mental health. However, we also need to avoid the bad aspects of denial. Personally attacking the reporters of climate reality (”they flew on a plane once, so why should I listen to them?”), cultivating unhelpful culture wars such as pitting farmers versus environmentalists, and clinging to unscientific views are all forms of denial that attempt to distract from the challenging reality of climate breakdown. Instead we need to recognise we are all in this together and to have real conversations about what is going on and how we can best respond. Our scientists and journalists who tell us the truth need to be listened to and supported, not attacked and ridiculed. The truth will set you free — but it could scare and upset you first.

In addition, facing the reality of climate change does not mean you can’t enjoy the good weather that comes with a heatwave. Having an ice cream on a beach does not mean you are a climate denier, just as talking about how climate change has caused the heatwave does not mean you want to ruin people’s simple pleasures. This is just another one of the unhelpful “either/or” positions that are cultivated in the media, particularly on Twitter, that only increase conflict and divisiveness. It is more mature to adopt a “both/and” position. You can enjoy the good weather, and also realise it is a worrying sign of climate change. You can take time to relax, grateful for what you have, and also commit to taking personal action against climate change.

In her new book, Children of the Anthropocene, 18-year-old climate activist Bella Lack’s simple message is: change your behaviours, but remember also to live your life.

- John Sharry is founder of the Parents Plus Charity, an adjunct professor at the UCD School of Psychology and a trustee of the environmental charity Feasta, feasta.org