Nowadays, climate change is an issue many of us are aware of. Children in school are being educated about the negative impacts of climate change and the impact of their actions. Nevertheless, there are people who ignore and deny it. Often, they don't want to face the tragic truth and therefore ignore the problem. According to an article in School Direct, there are five reasons for why people deny climate change: economic, science, humanitarian, political, and crisis denial. Moreover, there are people who harm the environment despite their eco-friendly actions. How does this happen?

Economic denials happen when people believe that it is economically burdensome to solve problems that lead to climate change as it is not a simple job. Climate change is complex in a way that not one, but billions of people are contributing to it in various forms. However, the money needed to fix climate change is not expensive when viewed in the long term. Economists say that now, climate change could be fixed by spending 1% of world GDP, when in 2050, it could cost over 20% of world GDP. The faster actions are taken, the better it is.

Science deniers reflect climate change as a part of the natural cycle. They even say that the technologies scientists use to predict global warming are unreliable. According to climate scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA, the early climate computer models that predict global warming have a high accuracy. Also, climate models 30 years ago accurately predicted the global warming we are experiencing now. Beside the economic and science denials, people may deny climate change because they believe that climate change can benefit us (humanitarian denial), cannot take action because other countries don’t (political denial), and shouldn’t make rapid changes (crisis denial). 

Negative footprint illusions and compensatory green beliefs is thinkinking that the effects from unsustainable choices can recover through green choices. For example, after riding bicycles to school everyday, people tend to think it’s okay to use plastics regularly. This is how many who make green choices end up harming the earth. It is important to acknowledge that sustainable choices are less bad for the environment and that they can’t compensate for unsustainable choices. 

Critically thinking about the causes of climate change and our actions that “help” the environment can possibly reduce ignorance towards the issue of climate change and our unsustainable actions. 

References: 

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-five-corrupt-pillars-of-climate-change-denial 

https://climate.mit.edu/posts/ucberkeley-mit-nasa-study-reports-accuracy-climate-models#:~:text=Climate%20skeptics%20have%20long%20raised,Institute%20of%20Technology%20and%20NASA.