“Climate change is an issue that is almost designed to create apathy …”

– Linda Connor, Science Alert, 20 May 2010

The writer argues that the rise of climate change denialism in the face of growing scientific evidence of serious consequences of climate change can be explained by looking at basic human psychology. Essentially, we’re talking about extrapolating psychology to the sociological sphere.

Negative messages about the future, such as those expressed in discourses of climate crisis, are a challenge to our cultural projects of immortality. These negative messages, connected with death and decline, engender conscious and unconscious defence mechanisms that send us back to the life-affirming messages of consumer capitalism.