Necessary Numbness

When reality becomes too overwhelming, a common response is to tune it out, and I think that's what is happening on the issue of global warming.

A friend of mine recently mentioned sitting in a meeting where attendees discussed how people seemed to no longer pay much attention to major environmental crises, particularly those connected to the larger issue of global warming. The flooding in California was an example of this apparent disregard. 

After I thought about what my friend had said, I suggested that the nonchalance about climate disasters was actually a false comfort and a coping mechanism. Polling shows that Americans believe global warming is a problem and that they want action to address it. However, they see a lack of response from their elected officials and feel discouraged about the possibility of change.

That feeling of discouragement grows into a feeling of being overwhelmed as the government fails again and again to address disasters. I noted for my friend how the failed government response and lack of concerned exhibited by the Biden administration in regard to the fires in Maui just before the California flooding was eerily similar to that same administration's response to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; the response to the pandemic under the Trump administration; and the response to Hurricane Katrina under the George W. Bush administration.

If people are faced with dire circumstances with no apparent way out and no help on the way, they are not likely to continue paying much attention to the warning signs about those circumstances.

Therefore, what we see when we see people ignoring the impacts of global warming is a necessary numbness.