With increasingly catastrophic storms like Helene, we need to call the source of this destruction what it is – burning fossil fuels. Yet this message is not being elevated in our region like it desperately needs to be. 

We are in unprecedented times and uncharted territories. I find myself remembering the famous line from the film The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy tells her dog, “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” after finding herself transported by a tornado to the unfamiliar land of Oz. In our case, it is the massive hurricane Helene that has transformed large parts of our region. The familiar has been changed in some places catastrophically. The feeling of being in an unfamiliar place is not just the devastated landscape but also the refusal to ground our understanding of why we are seeing increasingly frequent climatic destructive events in the rigor of basic scientific facts. Disinformation and misinformation are rampant.

I have long feared this level of climate destruction would ravage the coastal states and reach the Southern Appalachian mountains. The impact is heartbreaking and overwhelming. My sadness and grief were quickly overcome with a burning passion to name what happened for what it truly was, not just another summer hurricane, but a supercharged atmospheric phenomenon fueled by carbon pollution. 

Record-breaking carbon emissions driving up record-breaking sea surface temperatures fueling record-breaking flooding all enabled by political denialism supported by corporate greed leading to a lack of political will to address the root cause of these catastrophic events. 

The traditional news media has failed us, particularly in the South. This year I have watched with an increasing sense of doom as the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico broke sea surface temperature records, yet the news media said very little to nothing. Now, as I’m pushing the button to publish this post, Milton one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded is heading for Florida’s west coast. With Asheville and western North Carolina ravaged by extreme flooding, the west coast of Florida devastated yet again, and Helene’s swath of destruction carved through Georgia, South Carolina and upper Tennessee, there is a teachable moment for calling the source of this destruction what it is – burning fossil fuels. Yet this message is not being elevated in our region like it desperately needs to be.  

At SACE we have built an organization that is confronting our electric utilities’ continued fossil fuel build out and promoting instead low-carbon clean energy like solar and electric transportation. Yet over the past decade, I have watched our political leadership fail us by refusing to name the source of these increasingly destructive events. The disruptive force of climate change is real, a clear and present danger, not something in the future. It is here now as evidenced by the massive killer hurricane Helene.

I’m sharing a message below that I sent to my staff a couple of weeks ago, before hurricane Helene, that included a short essay on the “Enlightenment Fallacy” – basically, the need for us to be more assertive in messaging on climate impacts.                 

Dear staff, 

Last week I spoke to my youngest son Warren’s high school science class about climate change and energy issues. I thought about what to say to a generation of enthusiastic young people who are inheriting a planet that is unraveling and becoming increasingly diminished because of the direct effects of choices my generation and others on the planet have made and continue to make on how we produce and consume energy. I struggled with what is the right balance between straight talk about the dire situation we are in now with many global emission trends that are still heading in the wrong direction and a message of hope that we are putting into place the changes we need to turn away from the dangerous path we are on.  

 Activist and philosopher Joanna Macy talks about the three stories playing out in our world today. The first is “business as usual” assuming nothing really needs to change and that we are on a reasonable path, denying the danger. 

The second draws attention to the “great unraveling,” a clear-eyed understanding that we are seeing the collapse of ecological and social systems with devastating long-term consequences. 

The third is the “great turning,” the story that refuses to allow the willful blindness of the first story and the death spiral of the second define our response and future. All three of these are alive in our world today – the only question is where you choose to dwell and invest your time, resources, and power of action. With the students, I wanted to convey the real truth backed by science coupled with an “active hope” informed by my lived experience. I’m not sure how I did, the feedback was good, but if it really penetrated is still to be determined.

At the core of my presentation to them was the Keeling Curve, which is one of the most definitive measures of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions present in the atmosphere used by climate scientists. I told them, “If there is only one thing they take from my talk, it is that this ongoing measurement will define what kind of future you will have, check it frequently.” 

Here is an interesting video on the historic changes and intense increase in the last 40 years. The past two years have seen the largest increase in CO2 in the atmosphere according to NOAA’s data set. 

One way I brought this information to life for them was to talk about the CO2 in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution, which was around 280 ppm, and compare it to when I was born in March of 1962 at 319 ppm. Then I compared it to a high school senior born in 2006 at 382 ppm, and finally what that level is today, 423 ppm. You can find your birthday CO2 level on this interactive chart. This awareness builder makes the data seem more real and personal. 

Of course, we discussed population increases over this same time period going from 3.1 billion 1962 to 6.6 billion in 2006, and over 8 billion now. I shared the great variations of carbon intensive lifestyles between cultures. We spent time talking about solutions and bending the curve, all the things that we can do to move away from burning fossil fuels, producing carbon free clean energy and being more efficient with what we do use.   

It was tough looking the students in their eyes knowing what their future holds for them. The extremes, if we allow the news and social media feeds into our view, are a consistent parade of horrible events. I was disappointed that Vice President Harris defended fracking in the debate. I understand the political calculation that is Pennsylvania, but it still felt wrong given the seriousness of what we are up against.

A few days later I came across this short essay (see below) on the “Enlightenment Fallacy” written by David Fenton talking about how we “sell” climate disruption in public discourse. This essay resonates with me because we need to name the fossil fuel accelerant that is leading us over a climatic cliff for what it is. This clear communication is an important part of reversing the course we are on and finding solutions. 

“Will climate funders allow Enlightenment Fallacy to destroy the planet?”

Originally published on FrameLab as a guest post by FrameLab contributor David Fenton.

Progressives often suffer from what Dr. George Lakoff calls the Enlightenment Fallacy. This is the belief that great ideas are intrinsically convincing because of their obvious brilliance – and because ideas based on science and reason appeal to the rational mind. There is no need to “sell” these ideas, because selling is viewed as dirty, manipulative and sullying to the ideas themselves.

This Enlightenment reason-based view is common among those who study the humanities, sciences and law.

Conservatives know otherwise. They invest in selling ideas. They often go to business school, where they study cognitive and marketing science, then use these skills to sell products and services — or to spread confusion and disinformation to pass or stop policy changes affecting their businesses.

Public knowledge = political will

Take the propaganda war to save a livable climate. Only one side — the fossil fuel industry — is really on the battlefield, as there is little investment by climate organizations or funders in creating public knowledge. Yet public knowledge is the foundation of political will, which we sorely lack on climate.

Research shows the result of this failure to reach the public. In a recent Yale Project on Climate Change Communication’s survey, likely voters ranked climate change 19^th of 28 issues. Nearly two thirds of the American public report they “rarely or never” hear anyone talking about climate change or anything about it in the media.

Most of the public doesn’t believe climate change will affect them, even as extreme weather is going nuts around the world. Most Americans cannot tell you what causes climate change nor how to solve it. The number one reason they give is climate change is caused by the ozone hole, which it is not. How to solve it? Most people say “reduce, reuse and recycle,” which won’t solve it.

Climate: Failure to communicate

How are we supposed to push politicians and companies to act on an issue people think is a low priority, rarely hear about and can’t even explain?

This is clearly a massive communications failure by our climate movement. And no, it isn’t just because the fossil fuel industry has more money. It is because they value and understand the importance of public persuasion, and we largely don’t. Look how the fossil fuel companies sponsor all the major political newsletters like Politico, Axios, Semafor and the rest, and so many news programs. They know it is worth it. The climate movement, not so much.

Why isn’t there philanthropic support to get the most basic information to the public? For example, only 21% of Americans know there is scientific consensus on climate change. Most people falsely believe there is enormous scientific disagreement about whether humans are heating the earth — when, among published climate scientists, there is none. Yale research shows that when you present any group of Americans, even conservatives, with the truth, support for climate action skyrockets. We have no campaign to get this truth to the public at scale.

Metaphors matter

Why is there no campaign, using the principles of cognitive science, including simple messaging and repetition, to help more Americans understand that pollution from oil, coal and gas is the cause of climate change? Data shows that the simple visual metaphor of the “pollution blanket” around the earth is highly effective in improving public cognition. That blanket is trapping heat that used to go back to space — under it all that trapped energy is making storms and heat waves stronger.

People get this. But they pretty much never see this visual metaphor.

Recently, someone who works with climate funders told me that there was only communications money for the achievement of “specific policy goals.” If you want funding for a campaign to install more charging stations for electric cars, you might get it. Or to pass a tougher building code in Idaho, for example. This is fine so far as it goes, but completely misses the forest for the trees.

Because if you really want the public to push for more charging stations, or better energy building codes, or more solar and wind and batteries — help them understand they need these to protect their way of life on a livable planet. That if we don’t rapidly change to 100% clean energy and transportation, their homes, kids, health, safety and security are under massive threat. That their ability to buy home insurance will disappear. Their utility rates will skyrocket. That massive waves of climate refugees will inundate our country, which has already begun. The public largely knows none of this.

A major climate foundation has raised over a billion dollars (!) for a global campaign to increase the adoption of electric vehicles. This is fantastic, except that it appears almost all this money will be spent to hire lobbyists and experts to achieve policy goals. Little or nothing will be invested in public understanding and demand for electric cars. There will be no marketing campaign. Meanwhile, the oil companies are funding public disinformation campaigns to discourage electric car adoption. Partly as a result, demand is slacking, and Ford just delayed and, in some cases, abandoned, investments in battery and electric car factories.

We climate activists bemoan that Kamala Harris only uttered seven words about climate change in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, while Tim Walz said nothing at all. We flinch while watching her proclaim proudly that America is the #1 global petrostate, producing more oil than any other nation. Yet we don’t invest in helping the public link this increased oil production to the destruction of our economy and way of life. So maybe we shouldn’t blame Kamala until we do.

Time to start selling

We are upset that few candidates run prominently on a climate change platform. Yet how can they until we raise the saliency of climate as a voting issue in their districts first? And yes, we can measure the efficacy of every step of such an effort. 

The world needs to rapidly mount a war-like mobilization to decarbonize the entire economy, or we face chaos, destruction and certain economic decline. The thought that we can achieve this without the public demanding it is fantasy.

And why would the public agree to go to war if they don’t even know they are under attack? When it comes to climate change, they largely do not know. Philanthropy has the money to transform public knowledge and thereby provide the political will this country lacks on climate.

Let’s hope they get over the Enlightenment Fallacy and start selling in the little time we have left to save a livable earth.

David’s essay above is about naming the problem and talking to people about what is happening, giving context and pushing back against misinformation. And what’s happening is this: carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing in our atmosphere from burning fossil fuels (see the Keeling Curve). This is a fact just like water runs downhill. Carbon dioxide blocks the sun’s heat energy from returning from the Earth into space, trapping it like heat under a warm blanket or in a car with the windows up on a sunny day. This trapped heat energy warms our oceans and our atmosphere. Warmer oceans release more water vapor, and a warmer atmosphere can hold this increased water vapor – and both lead to stronger hurricanes and increased flooding events.

These are all facts, no matter what the fossil fuel industry or their proxies tell you otherwise. The amount of heat trapped in our atmosphere and oceans is increasing because we are adding more carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollution to the air every day. We have exceeded the Earth’s ability to pull pollution out of the air. Name it for what it is, because this is real, not a movie. Indeed, we are not in Kansas anymore.

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